


Life is Strange

by ErejeanAnonymous



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Boarding School, Drunk Eren Yeager, Flirting, Fluff, Hipster Eren Yeager, M/M, Private School, Punk Jean Kirstein, Time Travel, attempted suicide, life is strange au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-30
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-07-19 07:01:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 46,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7350673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErejeanAnonymous/pseuds/ErejeanAnonymous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Many people have spoken about how even the smallest action can affect the future dramatically - a truth which Eren Jaeger is now only just realising. For the first time he is able to help others in ways that no one else can, and when one of those people turn out to be his childhood friend the two are able to reunite stronger than ever.</p>
<p>Soon, though, Eren finds out the true consequences of his decisions and is left having to make the biggest choice yet.</p>
<p>(Life is Strange au)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is an Erejean fic based on the video game 'Life is Strange'. Enjoy!

"What the hell?"

I could barely hear myself over the sound of the rain crashing down like waves and the wind thrashing against me. My head was pounding as I looked around the woodland area, the trees being blown around all too easily by the harsh gales, and I struggled to stay standing where I was. I brought my arm up to my forehead in an attempt to block out the harsh winds, though it did very little to help.

The thought of how I got there didn't even cross my mind, my thoughts instead being too preoccupied with worry and fear and wonder of how the hell I was going to get out of the damn place.

I looked around myself in a desperate attempt to find some safety, managing to catch sight of a lighthouse a little off in the distance from where I was.

It will be safer in there. I just need to reach the lighthouse, then I will be safe.

With my arm still over my face, I started making my way up the seemingly-impossible-to-climb slope. I managed to follow the clearing out of the woodland area, leaving myself near the edge of a cliff with the lighthouse I had spotted before not too far away. 

With the trees no longer blocking my view, I managed to get a clear view of the ocean. I felt my heart stop as I looked over, my fear easily being replaced with dread. This can't be real, this can't be real...

I took a few steps back, my eyes still wide as I looked over at the unbelievably massive tornado that was heading toward the beach from the ocean. It was so unreal. It looked like something straight out of a movie...

"Shit!" I gasped, hiding my face in my arm as a boat that had been carried up by the tornado smashed into the lighthouse, causing the top to fall down in my direction. There wasn't even any time to move, and I sucked in a breath of air as I waited for the pain that was sure to come...

Except nothing happened, and as I snapped my gaze back open to find out why nothing had happened, I instead found myself sitting at my desk in the middle of class. I slumped forward, confusion running through me as I rested my head in my hands. Whatever words my teacher was saying weren't being registered, and it took me a few moments to bring myself back into reality.

What the hell was that- a nightmare? Only I couldn't remember falling asleep, and no one was looking at me as though I had just woken up. Fuck, maybe I just hadn't been getting enough sleep and I was now daydreaming or something. It must have been a dream, right? Still, it felt so damn real...

I sank back in my seat, a deep sigh slipping past my lips as I managed to calm myself down. I was fine, I was okay, I was safe in my classroom. Well, as safe as you could be with people like Petra Ral in your class. I looked over at her, only to catch sight of her throwing a crumpled up piece of paper at Krista. God, how could such a kiss-ass be such a bully? Asshole.

I rolled my eyes, dropping my gaze down to my camera and biting down on my lower lip as a thought pushed its way up to my mind.

After what just happened with the whole 'dream' situation, maybe it was a good idea to take a photo of myself - just to show that I was still here...

I grabbed my camera, not giving too much thought on Mr Ackerman or the rest of the class. I honestly couldn't care less about them in that moment. Besides, Ackerman seemed to have a bit of a soft spot for me.

Turning the camera around to aim it at myself, I ran my fingers through my hair before taking the shot. The image printed out instantly, and as I started shaking it Mr Ackerman cut off from what he was saying and directed his attention towards me.

"Eren, as pleased as I am that you're actually finding the time to take your photos, I would appreciate it if you did so out of class."

"Sorry, Sir." 

"Just stay after class, Eren. I need to have a talk with you."

Oh, great. "Yes, sir." Just fucking great.

I'm not sure what he even started talking about after that, not bothering to pay any attention to him. Don't get me wrong, he's an amazing teacher and I love his classes but I just really wasn't in the mood. If anything, he was the main reason I wanted to go to this school. He was a famous photographer, and no other art school had their own Levi Ackerman.

Luckily, there wasn't too much time left before the final bell rang for the end of the day. All I had to do was sit and listen to Ackerman, and then I could go and hide in my dorm room for the rest of the day.

Before going over to Shorty's desk, I packed up my stuff and went over to talk to Krista. She was still sitting at her own desk, looking even more zoned out than I had. I didn't blame her, though, she was having a pretty rough time. There was a video of her online making out with a bunch of guys, and everyone was giving her a hard time for it.

"Hey, Krista," I greeted, offering a small smile as she looked up at me. Even with how low she was clearly feeling, she still managed to give a smile in return. Honestly, she was probably one of the nicest people I had ever met. It was so unfair that someone like her had to feel the way she did. 

"Hi, Eren."

"How are you feeling today?"

"No different than yesterday," she said, sighing softly. "Still, life goes on, I guess."

"I hear you. Do you want to hang out for awhile? We could watch a movie or something?" I offered. 

"No thank you. I kind of want to be alone right now, it was nice talking to you, though."

"Alright. If you need anything, you know where to find me."

"I know. Thanks, Eren."

I gave a small nod, wishing I could do something to help but knowing it was probably just best to leave her alone for now. I turned around, making my way over to Mr Ackerman's desk where he was currently talking to Petra. Well, Petra was talking to him at least.

It was so obvious that she had a crush on him. She was leaning against the desk and playing with her hair, probably kissing up to him in hopes that he'd choose her photo for some contest the school is entering. Classic Petra.

I stood a little off to the side as I watched them, with Mr Ackerman leaning back against the wall beside his desk on the right of me. I rolled my eyes, just wanting to get this talk over and done with. "You wanted to speak with me, sir?" I asked, ignoring Petra's irritated expression as I cut her off.

"Yes, Eren. Petra, we can continue this conversation tomorrow," he said, and I had to hold back a smirk as she just glared at me before turning off and leaving the room. 

"Now, Eren," he started, "I wanted to talk about your photo entry for the Everyday Heroes contest - or, rather, your lack of an entry."

"Ah, right," I mumbled, rubbing the nape of my neck. "I'm working on it. I just... need to find the right shot for it." 

He just sighed in response, giving a small shake of his head. "Listen, kid, you were given a scholarship here for a reason. I know you take ten times more photos than anyone else in this class. You just need to learn to put yourself out there more. Take some risks every once in a while."

"I know. I'll get something to you by the end of the week," I said, just wanting the conversation to be over.

"You better," he said, folding his arms. "Alright, you can go now, I know you're dying to leave."

"Thank you, sir," I said, before making my way out of his classroom. I glanced over at the front entrance, giving a small huff when I saw Petra standing by it with her posse. Christ, I really couldn't be bothered to listen to her have a go at me.

Without hesitation, I turned on my heel and made my way over to the back entrance of the school instead. There wasn't exactly a way off the school grounds out back, so I'd have to go over a fence or two to make my way to the dorms, but I didn't mind. I opened the doors, letting out a sigh of relief at the fresh hair. I leant back against the wall for a moment, my brows rising slightly when I spotted a blue butterfly.

I watched it fly past me and go down behind the large dumpster over to my right. Its wings were so beautiful, and I couldn't help but want to take a photo.

Standing up straight again, I went over and carefully moved the dumpster away from the wall a little so I was able to fit. I took out my camera, slipping in between the wall and the bin and crouching down as I took the shot.

The butterfly had settled down on some worn down textbooks, only flying away again after I had taken the shot. I shook the photo before looking it over, about to stand up to leave when I heard the school door slam shut.

I flinched slightly, peaking out from behind the bin to find Oluo looking as though he was about to have a mental breakdown. God, what did he have to be stressed about anyway? His family is rich, he's popular, he's a great photographer...

"Fuck. Calm down, man. You've got this. You're a Bozado. Nobody can mess with you."

I furrowed my brows slightly, just watching him pace back and forth as he talked to himself until the back door opened again. I moved back behind the bin, deciding it was best to stay hidden.

"Have you got my money?" Some guy asked, and I rolled my eyes at the question. Oluo was probably just buying more weed.

"I've got nothing for you," Oluo said, his tone sounding stern though his voice was shaking a little.

"Fine, then it looks like I'll have to go with my second option. I'm sure your family would love to know everything that you've been up to lately-"

"You wouldn't dare-"

"Try me. I can't wait to see this in the news, I'm sure your family-"

"Shut up," Oluo growled, and I poked my head around to check on what was going on. My eyes were just as wide as the blue haired stranger's stranger's as we stared at the gun in Oluo's hand, and I could barely move as I watched them silently. "You better not say I damn word about any of this," he threatened, backing the stranger up into a corner only a few meters away from where I was.

"You- You're fucking crazy! Put that thing down!" 

"I said shut up! Don't ever tell me what to do. God, I bet no one would even miss you, would they?" He growled, holding the stranger back against the wall and holding the gun to his chest. "Not that there's anyone left to miss you, anyway-"

"Get that thing away from me," he said frantically, moving to push Oluo away. I felt my heart stop at the sound of a gunshot, quickly getting up and reaching my hand forward even though I knew it was too late and-

What the hell?

I flinched back my hand, my brows furrowing in confusion as I stared at the now empty space in front of me. It was blurry, but when I lifted my hand like that I could have sworn that I saw everything that had just happened sort of... rewind...

I glanced down at my hand, a mix of concern and confusion rushing through me. God, maybe I really was crazy...

I snapped back into reality when I heard the door slam again, looking up to see Oluo looking just as stressed as he was before. He was about to start talking to himself again but stopped when he spotted me, and in a brief moment of panic and curiosity I reached my hand up again like I did before.

My eyes widened slightly as I watched the past ten seconds or so rewind, unable to believe what I was seeing. So I wasn't crazy...

Wait, this means I could save that guy from being shot! The only problem is how... Maybe I could go back even further and then warn him? No, he probably wouldn't believe me. God...

"Shit," I mumbled quickly when the door opened again, quickly crouching down to hide behind the dumpster. How the hell was I supposed to help him? I guess I could try to knock Oluo out or something, but then he might just shoot me instead...

"God, I bet no one would even miss you, would they?"

Fuck it, maybe just a distraction will work.

I grabbed my bag, moving the camera out of the way before hitting the back of the dumpster. The sound seemed to be enough of a distraction because the next thing I heard was Oluo swearing and the sound of something (or someone, most likely) hitting the ground. 

I stayed hiding in silence, not wanting to become Olou's next target unless there was no other option. I heard footsteps going off in the distance, which was probably the stranger. After a few moments of Oluo grumbling, I heard the door open again as I guessed he made his leave as well.

I poked my head around just to make sure that they were both gone before picking up my bag and standing up with a sigh of relief. 

I actually did it. I actually saved someone's life...


	2. Recognition

After managing to calm myself from what just happened, I decided to make my way back into the school building. I just hoped that Petra had left. 

She wasn't the one to stop me, though. Instead, I was halted by Nile Dok - the school's chief of security. "What were you doing out in the back there, kid?"

Jesus, did no one trust anyone anymore? "I was just taking photos. I'm allowed to be back there."

"I don't like your attitude. Are you sure there's not something you're not telling me?"

"No. I was just taking photos."

"Well, I-"

"Excuse me, Nile," I heard the principal say, and for once I was thankful that he was there. "Isn't there anything else you need to be doing? I'm sure we'll all survive if you just leave Eren be."

I had to hold back a grin when Nile just glared down at me before walking off. I was about to walk off as well but Mr Smith stopped me before I did.

"Hold on a moment, Eren," he said, waiting for me to face him again. "Are you alright? You're looking a little pale."

Oh, yeah I'm fine. It's just that one of the kids in this school has a gun and ended up killing someone today except they didn't because I saved them by rewinding time somehow. No biggie, though, right? Fuck...

"I'm fine, Sir. Just having one of those days, I guess."

"I know exactly what you mean, Eren. That being said, are you sure you're not hiding anything? You can talk to me, you know."

"I know." Fuck, should I tell him about the gun? What if he doesn't believe me? I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't; Oluo's family basically own this school, I doubt anything would happen to him for it anyway. Still... "Um, actually, sir. Can I tell you something?"

"Of course, Eren. What is it?"

Just mention the gun, Eren. Nothing else, just the gun and Oluo. "I... I just saw Oluo Bozado with a gun."

He furrowed his brows slightly, looking as though he didn't believe what I had said. "Oluo Bozado? Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure, yeah."

"And where was this exactly?"

"Round the back for school. He was just walking around and talking to himself like a-"

"And he didn't see you?" He interrupted

"Well, no, I was crouched down behind the dumpster," I explained slowly. "I was there before he got there. I was taking a photo of something when he came through the back door. Do you not believe me?"

"I just want to be completely clear with what happened. Mr Bozado happens to come from the town's most distinguished family and is one of our top students here at Rose High. It doesn't exactly seem like the type of thing I'd expect him to do," he said, giving a slight shake of his head. "What happened next?"

"He left. I came back inside not really sure what to do," I answered, looking him over for a moment. "Are you gonna bust him?"

"Well, this is a serious charge, Eren. I will look into the matter personally. Thank you for bringing it to my attention." 

Great. That probably meant he was just going to ask Oluo and take his word for it. Still, there was no way I was going to not tell Mr Smith about what happened. "Thanks, Sir," I mumbled before making my way out of the front door.

I shoved my hands in my pockets, staring down at the ground in thought as I walked down the school steps. I paused at the bottom of the steps, noticing the papers spread across the ground. Crouching down, I picked one of them up and looked it over.

"Jesus," I mumbled quietly, reading over the details on the missing person's poster. I had seen them around the school but I never really took the time to read them. Marco Bodt... God, he was only a year older than me. His family must be so worried.

"Oh, Eren! Could you come over here for a second?"

I looked up when my name was called, unsurprised when I saw Ms Zoe waving me over like a maniac. Dropping the paper back to the ground, I stood up and made my way over to her. "Hey, Ms Zoe. Do you need help with something?"

"Only with the protection of this school! Did you know that Nile Dok wants to put security cameras all around the school grounds? Halls, classrooms, out on the fields. He even wants them put in the dorm rooms."

I raised me brows slightly. "That's a little over the top... I appreciate the idea of making the place feel safer but not like this."

"That's exactly what I was thinking! I'm trying to get students and teachers to sign my petition against it. Would you mind?" She asked, holding a clipboard and pen out to me.

"I'd be happy to. I hope you can get enough signatures," I said, signing my name before handing it back to her. "Have a nice day."

"You too, Eren!"

I gave a small nod and a smile before starting to walk again, taking out my phone when I felt it vibrate in my pocket. I smiled a little when I saw who it was from, replying immediately .

'Hey, Eren! Mind meeting me in the parking lot? Want to show you something.' -A

'Sounds good. See you there :)' -E

I shoved my phone back in my pocket, making my way over to the school's parking lot. I had to take a few steps back as I turned the corner, looking over to see Nile talking to Krista. Well, 'talking' would be an understatement. Looked like he was interrogating her more than anything else.

"-so don't even try lying to me about it. I know everything that goes on around here, do you understand me?"

"N-no. Leave me alone," she said weakly, taking a few steps back from him. 

Christ, what was this guy's problem? I had to help her...

"Hey! What do you think you're doing exactly?" I said, walking over to stand next to Krista. 

"You again? Listen, kid, you should mind your own business-"

"And you should be doing your job instead of bullying students," I snapped back, not caring about how I sounded. 

"Hey, nobody here is bullying anybody-"

"That's not how I see it," I said, interrupting him again, before folding my arms. "I think you should just leave us alone now."

He narrowed his eyes at me, quickly looking from Krista to me before grumbling something under his breath. "I will remember this conversation," he said to me, glancing over at Krista again before leaving.

I let out a sigh of relief, turning to face Krista and smiling as she threw her arms around me. "Thank you! That was so nice of you. I won't forget this, Eren," she said, pulling back with a small smile. "I have to go now but thank you again."

"No problem," I smiled, watching her walk off in the direction of the girl's dorm building. It wasn't exactly ideal that Nile now hated me but what could I do? I wasn't going to just let him talk to Krista like that.

I guess if I really wanted to I could rewind and do something else but... No, fuck that. There was no way I was going to just let him talk to Krista like that. She had so much going on already, I wouldn't want things to be worse for her.

With the decision made to just leave the past as it was, I continued making my way down to the parking lot. It didn't take too long for me to get there, and the moment I was in eye sight, Armin was waving me over with a wide smile on his face, leaning back on the hood of a car.

Armin was probably my only real friend at school. He had warmed up to me on my first day here and even though it had only been two weeks we had grown really close since then. It was nice. I was kind of worried I wouldn't have any friends when I started school here but he managed to make me feel welcomed.

"Hey, Ar," I greeted, offering a small smile before looking the car over. "Is this yours?"

"Yup! Isn't it great? My grandpa bought it for me," he said excitedly, standing up properly and glancing back at it. "I know it's not exactly all that flashy but it works."

I chuckled softly, nodding a little. "That's great. God, I don't think I'll be getting a car for years."

"That's because you spend all your money on photography books and all that paper for your camera. Honestly, I don't understand why you don't just get a digital camera."

"I like my camera," I shrugged, shoving my hands in my pockets. "Anyway, I won't need a car now because I can just get you to drive me around," I said jokingly, giving him a light nudge.

"I'll have to start charging you," he said with a roll of his eyes, shaking his head a little and smiling up at me. "That said, I was actually about to drive down to the beach. Wanna come with?"

I gave a small shake of my head. "No thanks. I'm not really in a beach mood... You have fun, though. I'll text you?"

"Sure. See you later," he smiled, getting into his car and giving a small wave before driving off. I felt a little bad for not agreeing to go with him but I knew he liked spending time alone at the beach too, so I was sure he didn't mind too much...

"Eren Jaeger!" 

For fucks sake, not now. I looked over to see Oluo stomping over to me, his hands formed into fists at his sides. 

"Who the hell do you think you are? Do you have any idea who the fuck you're messing with?" Great. So the principal must have told him that I was the one who reported him. Thanks for the anonymity, Mr Smith.

"Yeah, I do. What do you expect, Oluo? You should just be thankful I didn't tell him that you were actually about to use it on someone."

"No, you should be thankful that I didn't see you hiding away back there," he growled, giving me a harsh shove. "You better not tell anybody about anything else."

"Don't touch me, asshole," I said, shoving him back. 

"Don't tell me what to do," he growled, grabbing me by my shirt. "Don't you ever-"

"Hey!" 

Oluo and I looked over simultaneously when we heard the unknown voice, my eyes widening when I saw it was the blue-haired individual from before. It wasn't just that it was the same person that shocked me, though, it was because I was only just now recognising him. "Jean?"

"Eren?" He looked just as surprised to see me, though I'm pretty sure he recognised me much more easily. God, he looked so different...

Oluo just glared at him, his grip on my shirt not loosening. "What the hell are you- Fuck," he said, letting go of me and throwing his hand over his mouth. I took the chance to quickly shove him to the ground, just guessing that he had managed to bite his tongue again. I hadn't been here long and I'd already seen him do it so many times...

"Come on," Jean said, grabbing my hand and pulling me over to what I could only guess to be his car - well, truck. I got into the passenger seat without question, watching Oluo through the window as Jean started up the vehicle. He quickly drove out of the parking lot, Oluo managing to kick the side of the truck on our way out.

There was an odd silence as he drove, neither of us talking for awhile. I bit down on my lip as I looked him over, wondering how he had managed to change so much in only five years. God, it felt so weird. We used to be best friends but we hadn't really spoken at all since I moved...

"Take a picture, Jaeger. It lasts longer," he joked, though his voice sounded more serious than playful. Fuck, he probably hated me for not keeping in touch. 

"Is that permission?" I asked lightly, starting to pull my camera out of my bag and raising a brow at him.

"Don't even think about it," he said, to which I just slid the camera back into my bag. "It's been five years and the first time I see you you're about to get in a fight. I'm not even surprised."

"Yeah, I guess I'm pretty much still the same as I was before," I said awkwardly, rubbing the nape of my neck. "You're not, though. You look so different."

"Yeah, I do. And I am different. Not that you care."

"Of course, I care-"

"Eren, you've been back in town for two weeks and you didn't even try to get in touch with me. Hell, you didn't even get in touch with me after you left. I only even knew you had come back because someone else told me they'd seen you around."

"I know but I never thought I would be able to come back at all. I thought it was best to just move on since we would probably stop talking eventually anyway."

"Whatever," he mumbled. I just sighed in response, looking down a little guiltily. "Anyway, what did that asshole want with you?" He asked after a few moments, sounding a little less pissed now.

"Uh, nothing I hope. I just heard something about him and now he's angry with me," I said, not really sure if it was a good idea to tell Jean what really happened. "I think it'll be fine now, though."

"I hope so," he said with an awkward nod before clearing his throat. "Moving on from that... Do you want to come back to my place? I'm, uh, just making sure before I drive all the way there."

"Duh. Of course, I want to," I smiled, feeling a little relieved at the offer. Maybe he wasn't that mad at me anymore. "I did miss you, Jeanie."

He just rolled his eyes, chuckling softly in response and shaking his head. "It's good to have you back, Eren."


	3. Taking the Blame

It didn't take too long for us to reach Jean's place, the rest of the drive being spent in silence. The house was empty when we got there, which was kind of a relief since I was still trying to get comfortable around Jean again.

We went straight up to his bedroom once we got there. Although the rest of the house still looked pretty similar from when I was younger, I wasn't surprised at all when I saw how different Jean's room was.

I closed the bedroom door behind me as I followed him in, looking around at the poster-covered walls. Given his appearance, it wasn't exactly a shock to see that the posters were all of punk and metal bands that I hadn't even really heard of before.

His room wasn't anything compared to him, though. Everything in his appearance had changed. His hair was dyed light blue, his ears stretched, one brow pierced, and I swore I could see a tattoo peeking out from under his shirt. Even his clothes were so different, his jeans now black and ripped and his old trainers replaced with combat boots. It was so weird, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't look good on him.

I raised my brows slightly as Jean sat on the edge of his bed and lit a joint, wrinkling my nose slightly at the smell. "You smoke?"

He rolled his eyes in response. "Relax, Jaeger. It's just pot. No one has ever gotten hurt from weed before."

"I know, I know. It just feels... weird, seeing you do it," I said, taking off my bag and dropping it beside the bed before going over to sit beside him.

"I'm guessing you've never tried it?"

"Nope."

"Here," he said, holding it out to me and rolling his eyes again when I didn't take it. "Come on, Eren, just one take won't kill you."

"Fine," I mumbled, taking the joint from him and looking down at it unsurely.

"You have no idea what to do, do you?"

"Not a clue."

He chuckled lightly, shaking his head a bit. "Just breathe in as much as you can and try to hold it. Oh, and don't get the tip wet."

"Uh, alright," I mumbled, holding it to my lips and taking a deep breath in, only to start coughing a few moments later. "Fucking- shit," I choked, handing it back over to Jean as I tried to calm myself down.

Jean just laughed, grinning over at me as he took it back. "Don't worry, the burning means it's working," he said, lying back on his bed with a grin and blowing out some smoke.

"Fuck, Jean. I think that set my lungs on fire," I choked out, lying down beside him. 

"Oh, you're fine," he assured, looking me over for a moment before reaching over and grabbing my phone from my pocket.

"Christ, Jean, what are you doing now?"

"Chill, dude. I'm just adding my number to your contacts," he explained, sitting up as he unlocked my phone. He balanced the joint between his lips, reaching into his pocket before handing me his phone.

I hummed softly, sitting up as I took the phone but pausing as I noticed the lock screen. I stared at the photo for a few moments, biting down on my lip as I tried to decide whether or not to say anything. 

The lock screen was a selfie of Jean and Marco, the guy who was on all the missing person's posters. They looked so happy together. I felt awful, I had no idea they even knew each other...

"What are you thinking right now?" Jean asked, his voice softer than before, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I looked back over at him before back at the phone, not really sure what to say. "That's Marco Bodt, right? I've seen his posters around school," I said quietly.

Jean sighed, leaning back against the headboard of his bed and looking down at the picture, giving a small nod. "Yeah. I've been putting them up all over town ever since he disappeared."

"How long ago was that?"

"Six months. Most people in the town just think that he ran off to LA but..." 

"You don't think so?"

"He wouldn't do that, Eren, not without me," he said surely, looking up at me as he did before sighing and staring up at the ceiling. "We used to talk about getting out of this town and heading there instead. There's no way he'd just go without me."

"You wanted to leave that bad? What about your mom?"

"She's been too busy with her fucking ass of a husband to care."

"She got remarried?" I asked, feeling a little guilty for knowing so little about Jean's life. He gave a nod in answer, blowing smoke upwards. "I had no idea..."

"Well, it's kind of difficult to know shit about someone when you stop talking to them for five years," he said, and I flinched slightly at the harsh way he said it. "Though, I guess I should've expected it. Everyone I care about leaves me."

"I didn't choose to leave you, Jean. Neither did your dad, and Marco..." I sighed, not knowing what to say because saying he didn't choose to leave Jean would just imply the worst. "Listen, I came back. I'm sure Marco will too."

"I hope so," he mumbled quietly, looking sad for a moment before sighing and going back to smoking again. "Let's just talk about something else."

"Y-yeah, sure," I mumbled, not really sure what else to talk about. I watched him for a few moments before looking back down at his phone, trying not to linger on the lock screen for too long before finally adding my number to his contacts. "Uh, so..."

"So," Jean repeated. "What do you do nowadays?"

"Oh, uh..." God, you never do realise how little you do until someone asks. "Well, not a lot if I'm honest. I mostly just take photos."

"Ah, right, of course. That explains why you're back here then; Rose High seems to be the place for photographers," he said, humming lightly as he put the burnt-out joint on a plate on his bedside table. "Can I see some of your photos?"

"Sure," I said, reaching into my bag and pulling out a small folder. I watched him flip through it, smiling a little as I looked at the photos with him. He paused when he saw the newest photo, taking it out of the folder to look at it more closely.

"I saw a butterfly like this today," he said with a small smile, glancing up to look at me. "Where did you take it?"

"Oh, uh... Behind the dumpster around the back of the school."

"Behind the-" He paused for a moment, his brows furrowing slightly in thought. "Wait- Were you...?"

"Hiding like a coward whilst Oluo was waving a gun around?"

"Yeah, that," he said, staying quiet for a few moments before speaking up again. "So, you were the one who made that noise?"

I gave a small nod. "Yeah. I thought it could distract him so you'd have a chance to get away..."

"That's so fucking badass," he said, his lips curling up into a smile. "God, dude, you totally saved my ass. Who knows what would've happened if you weren't there," he said, and I didn't know how to respond because I did know what would've happened if I wasn't there. "Is it cool if I keep this?" He asked, holding up the butterfly photo.

"Uh, sure, I guess," I mumbled, watching as slipped the photo under his phone case. 

"Is this why Oluo was pissed with you, then? 'Cause you saw him with a gun? How did he even know you were there?"

"Probably because I told the principal," I said a little awkwardly, feeling like a little kid who had tattled on someone. Jean gave me a look of disapproval, and I just rolled my eyes in response. "Don't look at me like that. He had a gun, what the hell else was I supposed to do?"

"Did you mention me as well?"

"No! No, I just said that Oluo had a gun. I mean, I didn't even recognise you..."

He just nodded, not saying anything as he handed me my folder and phone. I put them both back in my bag, about to speak up after a few moments of silence but being cut off by the sound of the front door being slammed shut.

"Jean! I need to talk to you!"

The voice sound low and angry, and I could only assume that it was Jean's stepdad. Jean swore under his breath, shifting slightly in his seat and keeping his gaze set downwards as we listened to the footsteps coming up the stairs.

The bedroom door opened a few moments later, Jean's stepdad coming in and closing the door behind himself. I felt myself shrink slightly upon seeing him, realising why Jean seemed to hate him so much.

Nile Dok stood at the foot of the bed, glaring down at me before switching his gaze over to Jean. "What the hell is he doing here?"

"He's a friend. What do you want?"

"One of my guns is missing," he said, walking over to the desk by Jean's window and moving some of the loose papers with sketches on that covered most of its surface. "Do you happen to know where it is?"

"Jesus, I don't have your damn gun," Jean said, getting up and going over to Nile, tugging a piece of paper out of his hands. "Why do you-"

"What the hell is that?" Nile interrupted, walking over to Jean's bedside table and picking up the burnt out joint. "You told me and your mother that you had stopped smoking this shit. Or, don't tell me, it's your friend's joint," he said sarcastically."

"No way. Don't even bring him into any of this," Jean said, walking over to stand by me. "I don't see why you're so mad since you're the reason I'm smoking it."

"Don't try and blame me for everything that's wrong in your life-"

"You are everything that is wrong in my life," Jean snapped, taking a few steps closer to him. "My life went to shit the moment you arrived. Mom and I would be so much happier without you-" He was cut off as Nile slapped his cheek, the room being filled with the sound.

My eyes widened slightly, and I quickly stood up by Jean's side in a protective manner. Nile just stared down at him, looking only a little regretful. "You deserved that. I'll be having a talk with your mother about the drugs later."

Jean wouldn't even look at him, instead staring down at the floor, looking like he was struggling to hold back from doing something back to him. I bit down on my lip, looking down at the blunt for a moment before down at my hand. If I did another rewind, I could take the blame and help Jean out...

Fuck, what choice did I have? I had to. I owed it to Jean.

I raised my hand, watching time rewind and moving to sit back down on the edge of the bed as it did. I brought my hand back down to my side after a few moments, having gone back to when Nile picked up the blunt. 

"You told me and your mother that you had stopped smoking this shit-"

"He has," I stepped in before he could say any more, standing up and moving over to stand beside Jean. "That's my joint, not his."

"Oh, so you're bringing drugs into my home now? You sure do know how to get around," he said, walking over to me and moving Jean out of the way. "How about I phone the police? I'm sure that would have a great affect on your scholarship."

I took a small step back, feeling my stomach sink as I listened to him because holy fuck I needed to keep that scholarship so bad. Nile seemed pleased with himself at this, standing up straight and making his way out of the room. "Don't bring drugs back into my home," he said on his way out, shutting the bedroom door as he left.

"Thank you," Jean breathed out, pulling me into a brief hug before moving away again. "Seriously, that was so cool of you. And don't worry about your scholarship, okay? It was just an empty threat. Besides, if he actually did try to do that my ma would make sure he wouldn't go through with it."

That did manage to make me relax a little because, well, Jean was right. His mother had always treated me like a second son and there was no way she'd let anything bad happen to me. I gave a small sigh of relief, smiling a little as I looked up at Jean. "Thanks. And, hey, no problem. I've got your back."

He smiled back at me, glancing around the room for a moment before turning around and grabbing his keys and his phone. "Come on, there's somewhere I want to go."


	4. Honesty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean opens up to Eren on past events in his life, encouraging Eren to do the same.

I didn't even bother asking Jean where we were heading as he drove us there, deciding that I didn't really mind. I stared out of the window as he drove us in the direction of the coast, stopping at the entrance to a small woodland area.

I followed him out of the car, looking around the familiar area as we walked together. My eyes widened slightly when I realised it was the same place from my dream - well, nightmare - in class.

"It's weird being here again, isn't it?" Jean asked, and I looked up at him in confusion at the question, my eyes still wide.

"W-what?"

"We used to come here when we were kids," he said, chuckling a little after. "Do you really not remember?"

"I, uh, I do... I guess I just got confused for a moment," I mumbled, walking up the slope to the top and going over to sit on a bench at the edge of the cliff. Jean sat down beside me, the both of us staring out at the ocean.

"Hey, uh, I was gonna ask you earlier but I guess I never really got the chance," Jean started, keeping his gaze set forward. "I know Nile works at your school and everything, but it seemed like he knew you as more than just a random student."

"Well he did know me as some random student before today," I said, sighing softly and shaking my head a bit. "He was hassling one of my friends and I stepped in to defend her. I guess I got a little too mouthy and now he hates me."

"Seriously?" He said, smiling a little and looking over at me. "Oh, dude, you're like my hero today."

"I try," I said jokingly, chuckling a little as I met his gaze. "So, you know why Nile hates me, what about you and Oluo? Why were you asking him for money?"

Jean opened his mouth to say something before shutting it again, chewing on his lower lip for a few moments as he seemed to be thinking what to say. "He... He dosed me with some drug in his room. I thought I could blackmail him for keeping quiet about it."

"Wait, what? He dosed you?"

"That's what I said. I met him in a bar and we ended up going back to his room for more drinks. I thought that he'd get drunk enough for me to steal some cash but he was one step ahead and ended up putting something in my drink."

"Fuck, Jean... What happened? Did he...?" I wasn't sure how to finish the sentence, not exactly wanting to say what I was thinking.

Jean was quick to shake his head. "No, no. Don't worry it wasn't anything like that. I mean, I'm pretty sure nothing like that happened. I don't know, all I remember is him taking photos of me with his damn camera. I tried to kick him but ended up knocking something off his desk onto him and I was able to get out the room," he explained, looking away as he spoke.

"That's so fucked up," I breathed, not sure else how to respond. I never knew that Oluo was actually that bad. Sure, he's an asshole but this... God, that must have been awful for Jaen. 

"Yeah, well, I tried to make the best of it by making him pay me to keep quiet, but we both know how well that turned out."

"Did you need money that bad?"

"Yeah. I still do," he said, slumping back in his seat and dragging his fingers through his hair. "I... I borrowed some money so I could leave town with Marco. It hadn't even been 24 hours since he went missing so at the time so I just thought he was clearing his head and didn't want to answer any calls or texts because of it. The thought that he was missing didn't even cross my mind... Time went on after that, though, and..." He sighed, and I could tell he didn't want to talk about Marco much more.

"How much do you owe?" I asked after a few moments of silence, thinking that maybe there was a way I'd be able to help.

"Three grand."

"Jesus."

"Yeah. I know."

I wanted to ask how he still owed that much, wondering what the hell he had spent that money on if he was never actually able to leave town with Marco. I didn't want to push him for information, though, and I knew it was probably best to just drop the subject there.

"We'll find a way to make some money," I assured, though I think we both knew I was clueless on how we'd actually do so. "And if Oluo tries anything again I swear I'll kick his ass."

"I doubt he'll try anything like that with me again. He's probably a lot more pissed with you now, really," he said honestly, offering a reassuring smile after a moment and nudging me lightly. "It'll be fine, though. I've got your back. We can kick his ass together."

I smiled back at him before looking over at the ocean, enjoying the view. I stood up, walking a little closer to the edge of the cliff to get a better view of everything. It was so gorgeous, definitely worthy of a photo.

I reached into my bag to grab my camera but cursed under my breath as an ache shot through my head, bending over slightly to hold my head in my hands as I stumbled back a couple of steps. Fear and confusion ran through me as I opened my eyes, finding myself in the same spot as before but with rain beating down on me and Jean nowhere to be found.

I spun around in a panic, struggling to breathe as I realised the weather was exactly like it had been in my nightmare during class. It felt so real to the extent where I wasn't sure if I was still dreaming or not, but I knew it couldn't be real because there was no way the weather could change so quickly.

"Jean?" I screamed out, not knowing what the hell was going on. Why was this happening to me of all people? Fuck, I couldn't even tell what was real and what wasn't anymore.

I turned back around and looked off into the distance past the cliff, swallowing thickly at the sight of the monstrous tornado. I quickly pulled out my phone without thought, somehow managing to become even more confused as I read the date. The screen showed the date to be October 11th, which was this Friday...

Fuck, was this going to happen this Friday? No, there was no way. I had to be crazy to even think that, right? But, God, it just felt so real. And it wasn't like this was the craziest thing to happen today...

"Eren?"

I threw my hand over my mouth in shock as Jean suddenly appeared in front of me, everything seeming to be back to normal just from blinking. My breathing was heavy and I couldn't tell if I was going to pass out or start crying.

Jean was crouched down in front of me, holding onto my shoulders. I hadn't even realised that I had fallen back so I was sitting on the ground. It took me a few moments to fully register what was happening, my mind too blurred with confusion to be able to understand the situation.

As soon as I had managed to calm myself down enough to realise I was back in reality, I threw my arms around Jean and pulled him into a tight hug. My chest felt like it was being crushed it was so difficult to breathe, the whole situation just too overwhelming as I felt like I was going to have a panic attack.

The storm was going to happen. I wasn't crazy, and it had definitely not just been a dream. It was going to happen and there was no way I could stop it. That tornado... The whole town was going to be destroyed by it.

"Eren? Are you okay? You just sort of blacked out," Jean said, clearly confused but also seemingly concerned as he wrapped his arms carefully around me.

"Fuck, Jean, I'm so sorry. Fuck, please, we have to leave. We have to leave-"

"What are you talking about? Did you hit your head or something?" He asked, pulling back slightly so he could look at me properly.

"No! I'm fine. I mean, I'm not. I didn't hit my head, though, and I didn't black out either. I had another nightmare. Wait, not a nightmare. I don't know what to call it. Like, a vision? Oh, God, I sound crazy. Jean, I swear I'm not crazy, please don't think I am."

"Woah, Eren, calm down. What are you even talking about?"

"There's going to be a storm. I saw it! The town's going to get destroyed by a massive tornado. I'm not crazy, Jean, I had the same vision in class," I blurted out, suddenly feeling desperate to get him to believe me. He had to believe me.

"Okay, you're not crazy. Are you sure it wasn't just a dream, though?"

"Did it look like I was dreaming just now? Fuck, Jean, I'm terrified. A-and there's something else I need to tell you too."

He raised his brows slightly, looking me over for a moment before giving a slow nod. "Alright. Go on..."

I took a deep breath, organising the words for a moment before speaking. "After I had the vision in class I found out that I could reverse time... Like I said, not crazy."

"Christ, Eren, sounds like you're on more drugs than me."

"I'm not fucking around, man," I snapped, shoving him harshly and moving back a little. "Jesus, I didn't even manage to save you the first time! I watched you get shot, Jean! Do you know how fucking awful that was for me? The only reason you're still alive is because I was able to go back and save you."

"Maybe I should just drive you back to your dorm so you can get some rest," he said softly, reaching over to grab my hand as he made a move to stand up.

"You're not listening!"

"Eren, please-" he cut himself off, his brows furrowing slightly in confusion as a snowflake fell down on him. We both looked up at the sky, confusion becoming even more evident as we watched snowflakes falling down on us. "The hell? How the hell is it snowing? It's like 80 degrees out," he said, getting up and glancing around.

"Climate change, I guess," I mumbled, standing up and looking around. "Or a storm is coming."

Jean sighed then, biting down on his lip as he looked back over to meet my gaze. "Alright. I'm listening," he said calmly, taking a few steps closer. "Tell me everything."


	5. Believe Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean and Eren meet up again to talk about Eren's newly found 'superpower', but only after Eren has fully persuaded the blonde that his power is genuine.

I gave a quiet groan as I was woken up by the sound of my alarm, blindly reaching over and grabbing my phone where the sound was coming from. Peeking one eye open, I turned the alarm off, staring blankly at the screen for a few moments afterwards before noticing that I had unread text messages. Still barely awake, I sat up and leant back again the headboard of my bed to read them. 

'Wake up, Doctor Who. It's time for you to show me your powers.' -J [7:02 am]  
'No, but, seriously. Wake up.' -J [7:06 am]  
'Ereeeennnn' -J [7:09 am]

I rolled my eyes, unable to help but smile a little. It was definitely a relief that Jean's attitude to what I had told him last night had changed, even if he still didn't seem to believe me one hundred percent. After I had explained everything to him last night, he just told me that it was getting late and that we could talk more about it in the morning. He did seem like he was really listening to me and taking everything seriously, though, so that was really all I needed at the time.

'I'm up, I'm up. Where do you want to meet? I've got to come back to school for 11 btw' -E [7:11 am]

'Scouts? I'm craving pancakes for breakfast.' -J [7:11 am]

'Your ma's diner? Sure. See you there at 8? -E [7:11 am]

'Not a minute after.' -J [7:12 am]

I stared up at the ceiling for a few moments before managing to drag myself out of bed. I had stayed up most of the night reading up on theories on time travel, so I hadn't exactly gotten much sleep. I didn't mind too much, though, just wanting to go out so that I could meet up with Jean again.

After a quick shower, I got dressed and grabbed my bag before leaving the dorm building. I made my way down to the bus stop, pausing when I saw Nile and Oluo talking to each other. I raised my brows slightly, knowing that there was no way that them talking could be a good thing.

I continued walking, deciding it would be best to stay unnoticed by them. The bus didn't take too long to arrive, and less than ten minutes later I was off the bus and looking over at the old diner.

Linda, Jean's mother, was the owner of the diner and had worked there for as long as I could remember. She always made the best food and would always cook when I stayed over at Jean's house. Although it was probably going to be a little awkward given the fact that I hadn't seen her for five years, and of course because she's a friend's parent, it was definitely worth it for the food.

I made my way into the diner, unsurprised when I saw that Jean wasn't there yet. It was only a couple of minutes past eight, so it didn't matter really. I sat down at a booth in the corner, putting my bag off to the side and glancing around the room.

Only a few moments later, Jean's mother made her way over to me with a welcoming smile on her face. "Good morning, Eren, It's nice to see you again after all these years."

"It's nice to be back," I said, offering an awkward smile. "It's nice to see a lot of things haven't changed around here. I mean, a few things have changed a lot, obviously..."

"I'm guessing you're referring to Jean," she said, sighing a little but still smiling. "He may look different and have more of an attitude now, but he's still the same person you grew up with."

"I know, and it is nice being with him again. I'm sorry I didn't keep in touch when I moved, I know it must have been really hard on you and Jean after Hannes..."

"It was, but I've managed to move on with my life. Jean, however..."

"I'm sure he'll learn how to move on eventually," I said, not too keen on talking about how Jean has badly Jean had coped after his father's death. 

"I hope you're right," she said, hesitating a moment before changing the subject. "Well, I think that's enough of that for now. I'm sure you're starving. What can I get you?"

"I'd love a bacon omelette. Oh and, uh, Jean said he'd like some pancakes..."

She chuckled softly. "I'll go make them right away then," she smiled, turning around and heading back behind the counter.

Jean arrived less than a minute later, heading straight over to sit opposite me, grinning slightly as he leant forward. "So, time traveller, have you figured out a way to prove to me you're legit?"

I rolled my eyes, leaning back in my seat and looking him over for a moment. "I think so," I said after a moment, reaching over to pull a notebook and pen out of my bag and handing them over to Jean. He raised a brow at me but took them both anyway. "Write something down, whatever you want, and I'll tell you exactly what you've written."

"And how is this going to prove you can reverse time exactly?" He asked, but was already starting to write something down anyway, making sure I wasn't able to see the paper. I didn't bother responding, staying quiet as I closed my eyes and waited for him to finish. He put the pen down and held onto the notebook once he was done, looking up at me and raising a brow. "Go on, then."

"I don't know," I said simply, giving a shrug of my shoulders. 

"Lame," Jean said, rolling his eyes and turning the notebook around to show me what he had written. I couldn't help but smile as I looked down at the paper, expecting to see the name of an animal or a place but instead seeing a small cartoon. I looked the paper over for a few moments, making sure to remember everything, before lifting my hand and rewinding to when he finished drawing it.

"Go on, then."

"You did a drawing," I said simply, smiling a little as his expression slowly changed. "You drew us, standing next to the Tardis from Doctor Who. You also had a speech bubble where the drawing of you was saying 'there's no way Jaeger will guess what I've written haha'."

Jean's eyes widened as he listened to me, his gaze flicking from the page to me and then back again. "Holy shit," he murmured, putting the notebook down to show that I had been right about everything. "This was so fucking cool."

I just grinned at him, moving my gaze from him as Linda made her way over with two plates of food. "Here you go, you two. Don't worry about paying, Eren, it's on the house."

"Thank you."

"Thanks, ma."

"No problem, you two," she smiled, before going back to behind the counter.

I started eating straight away, smiling a little when the food was even better than I had remembered it to be. "You know, out of all the things you could've written, I would have never guessed it'd be a cute little cartoon of us. I mean, aren't you supposed to be all punk now?"I asked, looking over at him with a grin.

"Maybe your innocence is rubbing off on me," he shrugged, glancing down at the notebook. "Fuck, I still can't believe that just happened. You promise I'm not on some weird prank show right now?"

"I promise."

"Could you prove it again?"

I rolled my eyes. "Do you really still not believe me? Come on, I predicted everything you had drawn correctly, didn't I? Isn't that enough?"

"Well, magicians do that kind of shit all the time. Please, just do something again? I swear I'll believe you one hundred percent afterwards."

Sigh softly, I gave a small nod and finished off the rest of my food before sitting back in my seat. "Alright," I said, looking around the room for a few moments. "Fine. I'll predict what's going to happen during the next few minutes."

"Really?" He asked, glancing around the room for a moment. "Alright. Impress me."

I hummed softly, looking around the diner and paying attention to everything that happened during the next thirty seconds. Once the time was up and I had decided that I had enough events to predict, I lifted up my hand to rewind again.

"Impress me."

"Thomas and Dieter are going to start shouting at each other and your ma is going to break it up. After that, the cop will get an alert on his radio and leave the diner in a hurry. Then, the jukebox in the corner will stop working as a cockroach crawls on top of it."

Jean didn't say anything in response, just turning around slightly in his seat and waiting for everything to happen. I couldn't help but grin as I watched him look more and more shocked as each event happened, and after everything had turned out like I said it would he turned back to look at me with wide eyes.

"Are you impressed?"

"Well, obviously! Dude, you predicted a cockroach. A fucking cockroach! This is so fucking cool, you're like a superhero or something."

I chuckled softly, grinning a little as I did. "I wouldn't go that far," I said, about to speak again but pausing as I felt something trickle down from above my lip. 

Jean raised his brows slightly, looking me over with worry. "Woah, dude, your nose is bleeding."

"Must be from all the excitement," I mumbled, grabbing a napkin and wiping the blood away. 

"Well, if you're still up for more, there's somewhere I want to go."

"I'm definitely up for it."

"Come on then, loser," he grinned, moving to stand up but stopping when he heard my phone go off. I sighed softly, pulling it out of my pockets and about ready to hang up on whoever was calling but hesitating when I saw Krista's name. I bit my lip and looked up at Jean, who just rolled his eyes. "Just ignore it, Eren."

"I can't. She's going through a really rough time, Jean, I have to answer it," I explained, ignoring Jean as he slumped down in his seat in annoyance. I answered the call, bringing the phone up to my ear. "Hey, Krista. How are you doing?"

"Awful. Eren, please, I really need to talk to you about something."

I raised my brows slightly, shifting slightly in my seat. "Of course. What is it?"

"I think I was drugged," she said quietly, her voice sounding soar as though she had been crying before calling me. "At the party where they recorded that stupid video of me. Everyone says I was just wasted but I swear I wasn't. All I had was a sip of beer and then I just drank water."

"Jesus," I whispered, thinking back to what Jean had told me about Oluo. "Was the beer already opened when you drank some? Do you know who gave it to you?"

"I think it was open already but I don't know who gave it to me. All I remember after that is making out with those guys and then going somewhere with Oluo-"

"Wait, Oluo?" Oh fuck, that can't be good. "Where did you go with him?"

"He said he was going to take me to the hospital, but when I woke up it was in my bed in my dorm room," she explained, her voice shaking a little. "Do you think he was the one who drugged me?"

"Yes. I'm sure of it."

"I can't believe he'd do that to me," she whispered, her voice barely loud enough for me to hear. "What should I do? Do you... Do you think I should tell the police?"

"I... I don't think so. Not yet at least. They might not believe you just on what you think, so we're going to need some evidence first," I said softly, waiting for a response and speaking again when she didn't say anything herself. "Trust me, this is all going to work out. I'll help you out with everything, I promise."

She stayed quiet for another few moments before she spoke up again. "...Okay. Thank you, Eren. I'm glad at least you have my back."

"It's okay. I'll talk to you again later, okay?" I said, letting her say goodbye before ending the call and shoving my phone back in my pocket. I lifted my gaze to look over at Jean, who's expression had changed from annoyed to concerned. 

"Is she okay?"

"Not really," I sighed, grabbing my bag and standing up. "I'm sure she'll be fine, though. Anyway, come on, you said you wanted to go somewhere."

"Right, yeah," he said, getting up from his seat. "Let's go."


	6. Practice

I wasn't even surprised as Jean drove us into some old junkyard. The place was a mess, with old cars and signs and just general junk cluttered around the whole site. At the same time, though, there was something I liked about the place. It just felt really free and laid back - which was definitely fitting to Jean's new personality.

He parked the car by the entrance before walking further in, with me quickly following closely behind. "I was thinking about something we could do to have fun with your weird-ass superpower. You up for it?"

I raised my brows slightly, leaning back against the hood of a car when Jean stopped walking. "Sure? I mean, it depends on what you had in mind."

The corner of his lips twitched up into a smirk as he reached under the back of his leather jacket, pulling out a handgun. "I was thinking of some target practice. If you help me out I won't even have to waste any bullets."

"Fucking hell, Jean," I said, standing up and going over to him. "I'm guessing that's the 'missing gun' that Nile was freaking about?"

"Obviously," he said, rolling his eyes and looking around. "He's got tonnes, though, I don't see why he's freaking out about it. Anyway, it's probably a lot safer in my hands than his."

"I guess," I mumbled, flicking my gaze between Jean and the gun in his hand. It wasn't that I didn't trust him, it was mostly just that I didn't understand why he decided to steal it from Nile in the first place. "Let's do it, then. What do you want to use as a target?"

He hummed lightly in thought, walking over to grab an empty beer bottle from the floor and raising a brow at me. "What about bottles? I'm pretty sure there are some more in that concrete shed over there," he said, pointing in the direction of it. "Could you go grab some? I'll set up something to lay them out on."

"Sure thing," I said, turning on my heel and heading over to the small concrete building on the edge of the junkyard. It was pretty small, only around four by four meters. From the outside, it just blended in with the rest of the junkyard, but from the inside, you could clearly see that it was some sort of hang out. 

The inside walls were mostly covered with graffiti and worn down posters. There were some old chairs and a small wooden table, as well as some shelves, that were probably all found in the junkyard. Old pizza boxes covered the floor in the corner, with old scraps of paper that had been doodled on covering the table and shelves.

I grabbed two empty bottles from under the table, pausing when I noticed a couple of handmade bracelets. They both had a small charm attached to them, the blue on having the letter J and the brown one having the letter M. It seemed pretty obvious that they belonged to Jean and Marco, even though it was pretty difficult to imagine. The new Jean definitely didn't seem like the type to wear friendship bracelets.

If I were being completely honest, I was a little jealous of how close they had gotten. It was stupid because I was the one who decided to cut Jean off from my life when I figured I'd never see him again anyway. 

I sighed, shaking my head in an attempt to shake the thoughts from my mind. There was no point thinking about any of this, especially not right now.

I made my way back over to Jean with a bottle in each hand, letting him take them from me to lay out. He had balanced a large plank on top of some old washing machines, making a decent stand for the bottles. He moved back so we were standing a few meters away from them, holding the gun up and aiming it at the first bottle.

"Okay, Jaeger, how's my aim looking?"

"Uh, it's looking good," I lied, knowing he'd have to shoot first so I could go back and tell him if he needed to adjust his aim. "Go for it."

He pulled the trigger, only just missing the bottle by aiming a little too far right. I quickly rewound to a few moments ago, letting him ask how his aim was before responding. "Aim a little more to the left," I directed, watching as he did so before pulling the trigger and hitting the first bottle.

We did the same for the last two bottles, Jean's grin getting wider with each successful shot. "This is so cool," he said, looking around the area a little more. "Alright, the bottles are all down. Let's shoot something else."

"How about that junker?" I suggest, pointing to an old car that had been stacked up on top of an even older car. "Try shooting the bumper?"

"Sure thing," he grinned, taking a moment to aim before shooting at the bumper. His grin quickly faded as the bullet reflected off of the bumper back at him, shooting him in the stomach. I didn't even want to give him time to react, hurriedly reaching my hand up with my eyes still wide from horror. Fuck, that was two times this week already. Jean really should stay away from guns.

"Sure thing."

"Wait! No, fuck, stop," I blurted out, tugging his wrist back down as he tried to take aim. "I, uh, don't think that's a good idea," I mumbled, slowly letting go of his wrist. 

He raised a brow at me, clearly confused but quickly managing to work it out in his head. "Oh, did this already happen?" He asked, still looking confused and probably wondering how it could've gone wrong. "What happened?"

"Nothing," I mumbled, not wanting to talk about how he managed to shoot himself and not feeling like I was able to either. My mind just felt like it was clouding over and my head was starting to ache. "I just, fuck... Can we do something else?"

"Uh, sure, man," he mumbled, taking a step closer and looking me over for a moment. "Your nose is bleeding again," he commented, his voice laced with concern.

"My head hurts," I said quietly, barely even able to get the words out before my vision went black and I collapsed down onto the ground, already knowing what was coming.

The vision wasn't like it had been the last two times. It was still the same storm and I was seeing it from the same view, but unlike before the images of it were quick and it didn't feel like I was actually there myself.

It was a lot shorter than any other time, too, and after what felt like just a few moments I was waking up back into reality. My eyes fluttered open, confusion flooding through me for a moment as I had to try and remember where I was and who I was with. 

"You awake?" Jean asked, his voice managing to bring me fully back into reality. I sat up, blushing lightly once I realised I had been laying with my head in his lap. We both sat on the hood of a car, our legs dangling over the edge slightly, and I couldn't help but think of how Jean would have had to pick me up before laying me in his lap like that.

"Yeah. I'm awake," I answered, staring down at the ground for a few moments before looking up at him. "How long...?"

"Not too long," he assured, shrugging his shoulders as he answered. "You really worried me, though. Are you feeling alright now?" I nodded, and I could practically feel his eyes on me as he looked me over. "Alright... Mind if we go for a walk or something? I just don't want to stay in the same place for much longer."

"Sound good to me," I said, sliding off of the hood of the car and turning to face Jean as he did the same. I grabbed my bag, starting to follow Jean as he headed to the other side of the junkyard but stopping when we heard someone say his name. I turned around, glancing nervously at Jean before returning my gaze to the blonde stranger. 

He was a lot taller than Jean or me and was clearly pretty strong too. The tattoos covering his right arm only made him more intimidating. "Who's the friend, Kirschtein?" He asked, looking me over for a moment before returning his gaze to Jean. "Or is he your boyfriend?"

Jean rolled his eyes, a very clear tension filling up the air around him. "Fuck off, Reiner."

"I think you know better than to talk to me like that," Reiner said, his voice sounding threatening for a moment before returning back to it's naturally intimidating tone. "Anyway, I'm just here for my money."

So this must be the guy Jean said he owed money. Christ, he really had gotten into a lot of shit since I left town. How old was this guy, anyway? And why the hell would he lend Jean so much money?

Jean looked down at the ground, his body tense, and it was so clear that he knew just how fucked he was. "I'll get you your money," he said, but I think we all knew how unlikely it was that he'd be able to do that.

"You better," Reiner snapped, taking a few steps closer to Jean, who's eyes were still set downwards. As Reiner got closer to him, Jean's gaze moved up just enough to look at Reiner's wrist, his eyes blank for a moment before anger flashed over them. 

Jean reached forward, grabbing Reiner's wrist and bringing his hand up. "That's Marco's bracelet," he growled, glaring up at the blonde as he tugged his wrist away. "Why the fuck do you have his bracelet?"

"He gave it to me," he answered, his voice stern. Jean looked like he was about to make a move to punch him, but I quickly moved to stand by him and grab one of his hands, squeezing it gently to try to get him to relax.

I was usually the one to lose my temper and start a fight that I probably didn't even have a chance at winning, but even I knew that this wouldn't end well if Jean decided to start something. I could always use my rewind, but it was probably just best to avoid the situation altogether.

"Jean, calm down."

"You should listen to your friend there, Kirschtein." He stepped back, flicking his gaze between me and Jean. "You have until Friday to give me my money," he said, before turning and heading off again.

I could tell Jean was angry. I could tell he was scared too, though I knew he'd never admit to that. It seemed impossible for him to get so much money in less than four days.

"Let's go," he mumbled after a few moments of silence, pulling his hand away from mine and walking off in the opposite direction that Reiner had gone. I followed quickly behind, managing to catch up with him and walking closely alongside him. Neither of us spoke for a few minutes, with me not knowing what to say and him probably still thinking about money and Marco's bracelet. 

"Jean," I finally started, my voice sounding quieter and more unsure than usual, "how do you know Reiner?"

"He's just the town dealer. We used to hang out, actually."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously. That's why he lent me the money. Because he already knew me and he had cash to lend."

"I just can't really imagine the two of you hanging out together," I mumbled, looking down at me feet as I walked and hesitating before asking my next question. "Do you really not have any of the money he gave you? I mean, you never used it to leave town so..."

"I spent it on drugs," he admitted, somehow manage to sound casual about it. How the hell do you spend 3000 dollars on weed in only six months? I could kind of see why Nile was so angry when he thought Jean was still smoking it, even though his reaction was definitely out of order. "I actually had to get someone else to buy them from him for me since he's the only dealer in town and I knew he wouldn't sell me anything if he knew I was buying with his money."

"Christ, Jean," I breathed, not sure what else to say. "That's... Well, I mean this isn't exactly a situation anyone would want to be in."

"I'll figure something out," he shrugged, tilting his head upwards to look up at the sky. "Fuck, I just want to know why he has Marco's bracelet. There's no way Marco gave it to him. I don't even think they knew each other that well."

"Maybe they did and you just never knew," I suggested, and Jean gave me a look which made it obvious how much he didn't like the idea of that. "Or maybe there's another reason for it. Look, we'll find out eventually, okay?"

"I guess," he mumbled, looking away again. "At least I've got you to save my ass if I need it. Promise you'll rewind when Reiner kills me on Friday?"

I rolled my eyes, offering a faint smile. "It won't come to that. Like you said, we'll figure something out."

"Yeah," he said, before changing the subject. "You know, I'm starting to get more and more jealous over your superpower."

"Really?" I question, raising a brow up at him. "It's not actually all that fun, you know."

"That's because you probably haven't been using it to your advantage. I mean, dude, you could bang anyone and then just rewind and pretend that nothing even happened! Hey, you could even have made a move on me and I wouldn't even know," he said jokingly, wiggling his brows as he grinned down at me.

"Right. That's definitely what I did," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes and looking up at him.

"I wouldn't blame you. I am pretty damn amazing. Besides, it's not like you can't afford to take chances now," he said, stopping in place and waiting for me to turn and face him before speaking again. "In fact, I dare you to kiss me."

"What?"

"You heard me," he grinned, and I couldn't tell if he was just messing around or if he actually wanted me to kiss him. If it ended up being the former then I had no idea how I'd feel, considering I definitely didn't mind the idea of kissing him. Still, I'd never know if I didn't try it...

I took a step forward, taking another moment to try and figure out what he was thinking before giving up and going straight in for a kiss. I reached one hand up, gently holding his cheek as I pressed our lips together. His lips were so soft, much softer than I had expected, and...

And that was it, because almost immediately after our lips touched he was taking a step back. There was a moment where he just looked purely shocked that I had actually done it, but then his familiar grin was back on his lips. He was definitely just playing with me.

It actually stung a lot more than I had thought it would. What else did I expect? This wasn't some dumb love story where the two childhood friends see each other years later and slowly fall in love. He didn't kiss back so that's not what he wanted. Simple as.

"Fairplay, Jaeger. I didn't think you actually had the guts to do that."

"Guess you underestimated me," I said, hoping like hell that he couldn't see the disappointment on my face. I pulled out my phone from my pocket, sighing softly when I saw the time. "I have to go back to school now."

"I'll give you a lift," he said, turning around to head back to where he had parked the car. I mumbled a quiet thank you, walking along beside him in silence.


	7. Hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, you're not given second chances, and there's nothing you can do once something has happened. Sometimes, you just need to be comforted by those closest to you.

We spent the car ride back to school in silence. In all honesty, I was still feeling a little embarrassed after the whole kissing incident with Jean. I hadn't expected myself to be so disappointed when it turned out he was just messing around, and as my thoughts dragged along through my mind there was nothing I could do but hope that he hadn't noticed any of it.

He pulled up by the school, staring down at his hands on the wheel for a moment before looking over at me. "I'll see you later, yeah? After class or something?"

"'Course. I'll text you then," I promised, offering a faint smile. "Don't get into any shit between now and then."

He rolled his eyes. "I'll try," he mumbled, watching me as I nodded and opened the passenger door to get out. I shut the door, about to make my way to class but stopping as Jean rolled down the window and caught my attention. "Hey, Eren," he said, waiting for me to turn to face him before continuing. "You should really start taking chances more often," he said with a smirk, before driving off.

I stayed staring at the space where he had just been for a few moments, trying to process what he meant by saying that. Did he want me to kiss him again, or was he just messing around with me?

Knowing Jean, it was probably the latter. Then again, did I really know Jean that well after all these years I've been away from him? Sometimes I felt like he hadn't even changed at all, save for his appearance of course, but other times it felt like he couldn't be any more different. He had always been the type to mess around with me, so maybe he was just acting like how he had before I left. I did know Jean was gay, though. Was it really that farfetched that he was flirting with me?

I shook my head in an attempt to get the thoughts out of my mind. If I spent time trying to figure out what everything Jean said and did had meant, I'd never have time to do anything else.

I made my way up the steps to the school building, shoving my hands in my pockets and ignoring the students around me as I walked through the hallway. I paused when I spotted Nile, about to turn around and find a different way to my class when he called me over.

I had to hold back a grumble of annoyance as I walked over to stand in front of him.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday. Was that really your marijuana?"

"Yes," I answered without hesitation, not wanting to have to give Jean any more problems than he already had. "Why? Are you going to try and get me excluded?" I said, trying to sound challenging instead of worried like I actually was.

"I don't think that's necessary. I know most of you kids here smoke that shit, anyway, especially at those damn parties you have. Just stop smoking it around Jean. We've had enough trouble trying to get him to stop smoking as it is."

I bit down on my lip. Was Jean really smoking that much? If he had seriously spent all that money on it... God, I wouldn't be surprised if I found out he was dependent on the stuff.

"I honestly don't think I'll be smoking again at all. You don't have to worry about me smoking it around Jean."

"Good," he said, seeming to hesitate slightly before speaking again. "It's appreciated. You can go to class now."

I just nodded, a little surprised at the hesitation he showed. Maybe he really did care about Jean after all.

I looked him over for a moment before making my way over to Mr Ackerman's classroom, seeing as there were only five minutes left before class started. He was standing out in the hallway next to the door to his class, talking to Krista with his arms folded. Before I could even get close enough to hear what they were talking about, Krista had turned away from him and was walking away.

Her gaze was set downwards, tears falling down her face and her arms wrapped tightly around herself. I jogged over to her side, keeping up with her quick pace as I looked her over worriedly. She just ducked her head further away from me, mumbling a quiet "please leave me alone" as she did. I wasn't planning on it, but then Mr Ackerman was calling me over and I decided it would be best to just let her cool off on her own.

"Is Krista okay?" I asked, shifting my weight as I moved to stand in front of him. "What were you two talking about?"

"That's not really a question I should be answering. You can talk to her about it later if you'd like, but right now you should be waiting for my class to start."

"I know but I'm really worried about-"

"I told you she will be fine," he said sternly, and his phone started ringing before I was given the chance to argue. "I have to take this. Go wait in class, the bell will ring soon," he said, answering the call and turning his head to face away from me.

Christ, did the teachers not care about anything here? First Principal Smith with Oluo, and now Mr Ackerman with Krista? It seemed like Ms Zoe was the only one who gave a crap about what happened around here. Well, I guess you could say that Nile cared, but it definitely wasn't in a way that was having a positive affect on anyone.

Still, I did as Ackerman said and made my way into class.

I furrowed my brows slightly, surprised when I saw Petra and Oluo sitting together on one of the desks. How the hell was he allowed in school still? Were the teachers seriously going to do nothing about this?

Scratch that, I wasn't surprised in the slightest. It wasn't like Principal Smith sounded as though he was going to do anything about him in the first place, and even if he wanted to he probably would've been bribed out of it by Oluo's rich-ass parents.

I went over to sit down at my own desk, ignoring the obvious stares from Oluo and Petra. I decided to look away from them, opting to stare out of the windows to the right of me. I sighed softly when I saw Krista, who was somehow managing to look even more upset than she was five minutes ago, walking off by herself.

I found myself looking around outside a little more, freezing when I saw Nile standing off in the distance with a camera aimed at Krista.

"What the fuck," I mumbled under my breath, standing up and going over to the window to get a better look, ignoring the bell that was going off to signify the start of the lesson. What the hell was he doing taking photos of her? Even as the head of security, that wasn't something he should be doing. Was he like this all the time? How the hell was he even hired here?

"Eren, sit the fuck down."

I jumped slightly at the sound of Mr Ackerman's voice, which thankfully didn't come across as harsh as his words would have suggested. I gave a small nod, awkwardly going over to sit at my desk.

I didn't pay much attention once he started talking. How could I? There was already so much on my mind, I didn't exactly feel like sitting back and listening to a lecture on whatever famous photographer we were supposed to be studying this week.

It felt like there was more going on in my mind than I could even begin to process. In just over twenty-four hours I had discovered a new power, saved my childhood best friend twice from dying, had three visions featuring a storm that was going to happen in just under four days. Then there were all the problems that Jean had going on in his life... Christ, how the hell had I gotten myself into this mess?

"Hey!"

I was pulled out of my thoughts yet again by Connie, who was standing by the entrance to the classroom, clearly a little out of breath. "You guys have got to come to girls' dorm, shit is going down!"

Even Mr Ackerman didn't have enough control to stop everyone in the class from jumping up out of their seats and heading over to the girls' dorm. I followed quickly behind everyone else, wondering what the hell could be so damn interesting that we all just had to see it.

I froze as I turned the corner to where the dorm building was situated, my eyes wide as I stared up at the roof of the building.

Krista was standing on the ledge of the roof, and from the way everyone else was reacting around me it was clear we all knew what she was planning on doing.

My mind went blank as I watched her jump down from the roof, my body reacting before I was even able to think about it. I reached my hand up, turning back time as far as I could.

"Fuck," I whined, pulling my hand down when I had gone back as far as I could and my head had started to ache. It wasn't enough, though, as I had only managed to go back to the few moments before she jumped.

I reached my hand up to my face, my body starting to shake when I realised that my nose had started bleeding again. Fuck, not now. I couldn't be dealing with that right now.

I reached my hand up again just as she jumped, only able to rewind as far as I had been able to before.

And then everything stopped.

My head was still pounding and I felt like I could hardly stand because of it, but the rest of the world around me had just... frozen.

Had I managed to stop time?

Fuck, I didn't even have time to waste wondering how or why I was able to do it. I just kept my hand up in the same position and made my way into the dorm building and up to the roof as fast as I could. It took awhile, the pain and fatigue that had hit me easily slowing me down, but it wasn't like I was going to run out of time.

I had to put my hand back down when I got to the roof, feeling as though I might pass out if I were to keep it going any longer. I took a deep breath before lifting my hand again, only to instantly bring it back down and curse from the sharp pain that shot through my head.

"Eren?"

I swallowed thickly, ignoring the ache in the back of my head and looking over to meet Krista's gaze. Her voice was so quiet, barely even audible from where I was standing. She was turned to face me now, her face still covered in tears as she stood dangerously close to the edge of the roof.

She took a small step back. "What are you doing here?"

Fuck, there was no chance of me being able to rewind again. I had to try and do this myself...

I took another deep breath.

"Krista, please, I just want to help you," I said carefully, slowly taking a few steps towards her.

"Don't come any closer," she warned, her voice shaking a little. "I mean it, Eren."

I stopped in place, giving a small nod. "Okay, okay. I won't," I assured, trying to sound as calm as I possibly could. "I just want to talk to you."

"I don't want to talk. No one believes what I have to say, anyway."

How had I not noticed just how bad things had gotten for her?

"I believe you."

"If you really believed me you would have told me to go to the police. You wouldn't just let me do nothing about this."

"We will go to the police," I promised, hoping to God that it would calm her down a little. "I just need to get some evidence on what happened first, and I almost have it. You weren't the only victim to Oluo."

Her expression changed at that. "You mean he has drugged other people too?"

"Yes, but if we're going to take that asshole down then we need your help to do it," I said, slowly taking another couple of steps forward. "Please?"

"I- I can't. I can't go back down there, Eren. Everyone already hates me as it is. It will get worse if I go back down there now."

"Fuck them," I said bluntly, instantly regretting it the moment I had said it. That didn't sound like something I should have said, and for a moment I was worried I had fucked everything up. Except...

Except she ended up smiling a little. It was faint, barely even noticeable, but it was still there.

I didn't question it, there was no time to waste trying to question it, so I carried on speaking instead.

"Please, Krista. I really need your help if we're going to give Oluo what he deserves," I said, taking another step forward and holding my hand out for her.

She glanced down at my hand, fresh tears starting to pour out of her again as she took a deep breath before reaching out to me.

I couldn't put into words how much relief I felt as she put her hand in mine, stumbling slightly as she stepped down off the ledge and wrapped her arms around me. I took a deep breath, wrapping my arms around her and sitting down with her since it felt like she'd collapse if she stood for another minute.

I just held her close, trying my best to calm her down as she cried out countless apologies.

Once she was finally taken down from the roof she was taken to a hospital. I wanted to go with her, worried she'd have a breakdown if I didn't, but I was told that I wasn't allowed.

Lessons were cancelled for the rest of the day. Some people came over to me to thank me or tell me how amazing I was for bringing her down safely, but I honestly had no energy to listen to them. I ended up just going back to my dorm room, plugging in my earphones in an attempt to drown out the thoughts on everything that had just happened. Some time after staring up at the ceiling, I ended up falling asleep. When I woke up, it was to the sound of someone knocking on the door to my room.

It turned out to be one of the teachers I didn't know too well, who had come to ask me to go to Principal Smith's office. It turned out I wasn't the only one who had to go, though, and was soon joined by Oluo, Nile, and Mr Ackerman. We were there so the principal could find out what drove Krista to want to do what she tried to do.

Nile was there because he was the head of security. Mr Smith said he should have made sure the door to get up to the roof was locked.

Oluo was there because he had hosted the party where the video of Kate was filmed. Mr Smith said he was just there to answer questions.

Mr Ackerman was Krista's teacher and had spent more time around her than other teachers had because of extra projects she was doing in his class. Mr Smith said he should have noticed that something was off with her.

And I was there because I had been the one to talk her down from the roof. I was her friend, and I was the person who seemed most likely to know why she felt the way she had.

I had no reason to lie.

I told him about how Kate seemed to have been drugged at the party, and that we thought it might have been Oluo since he lied about taking her to the hospital. When Oluo started trying to deny it, I brought back up how I had seen him with a gun. I had already told Mr Smith about the gun incident, which I was now relieved about as it seemed to make him believe that I wasn't just talking complete bullshit.

Because of the accusations, and the fact that Oluo had hosted the party and was also shown in the video of Krista, the principal ended up suspending him.

It looked like Mr Smith wanted to keep interrogating me, but thankfully Mr Ackerman managed to easily convince him that it wasn't the right time after everything that had just happened. I had to sign some papers to confirm everything I had just said, and then I was finally allowed to leave.

As soon as I was out the door I was taking out my phone to call Jean. I hadn't talked to him about what happened yet, and I desperately just needed the comfort from him. When he answered the call he sounded so relieved, picking up the call after only the first ring. He had heard about what had happened and had been trying to contact me all day. I asked him to come pick me up from school, wanting to just get the hell out for awhile. He was over at the school in less than five minutes, giving me a worried look as I got in and sat on the passenger's side.

"Are you okay?"

"No," I answered, tugging my feet up onto the seat and pulling my knees to my chest. "Can we go somewhere else? Just need to clear my head for a bit."

"'Course," he said softly, noticing how I wasn't up for talking much and letting me stay silent for the rest of the ride to wherever he decided would be a good place to go. He slipped his hand into mine for the drive, giving a gentle squeeze in what I assumed to be an attempt at comforting me. He had never been the best when it came to comforting other people, but he was always able to find a way to calm me down. 

Even once we had gotten out of the car, he held onto my hand again and stayed quiet. We walked down to the beach, which I wasn't surprised had been Jean's chosen place to take me since when I was younger I'd talk about how much the sound of the waves calmed me down. We sat down on the sand by the cliffs, not talking for ages and just sitting in silence and staring out at the ocean.

I knew I'd regret it if I didn't talk to him about it, though.

"Jean," I started, my voice breaking the moment I started speaking. I hadn't cried about any of it earlier, but my emotions were now all catching up with me. "It didn't work. M-my power didn't work whilst I was up there with her."

He looked even more sympathetic after that, shuffling a little closer and squeezing my hand again. It felt like a dam had just broken inside of me, and I let him pull me into a hug as I started crying. 

"I thought she was going to die," I blurted out between sobs, breathing heavily and burying my face against his chest. "I was so fucking scared. I- I watched her jump and I was only able to go back enough so I had time to get up to the roof and, oh God, I thought she was going to die."

"You still saved her, though," he said after a few moments, keeping his voice soft. "She's safe now, and that's thanks to you."

"Thank God. I don't think I'd ever have been able to forgive myself if it had gone any other way."

"Even if it had, it wouldn't have been your fault," he said, sterner than he had sounded before. He sighed softly, not saying anything else and letting me calm myself down. When I eventually pulled back, I wiped my eyes with my sleeve and looked out at the ocean for some form of visual comfort.

My eyes widened slightly as I lifted my gaze, looking up to see a shadow going across the sun. Jean saw it too, a shaky breath slipping past his lips as he did.

"There's not supposed to be an eclipse today."

"Is it another sign of the storm?" I asked, glancing over at him. He just gave a small nod in response. At this point, it felt like the world was going to end. I took a deep breath. "Jean... I think that there's more going on with what happened to Krista. Oluo must have done the same thing to her as he tried to do with you. Nile is definitely involved as well, but I don't know how," I said, pausing a moment before I carried on speaking. "And... And I think it's possible that Marco is also connected to all of it."

Jean's expression dropped when I mentioned Marco, his gaze lowering to the ground. He bit down on his lip, giving a small nod. "I think you might be right."

"Should we do something about it?"

"Definitely," he said, looking back over at me with a determined expression. "We can't go to anyone about this, though. We need to find shit out for ourselves first."

"That's probably for the best."

He gave another small nod, leaning back on his hands and staring blankly at the ocean for a few moments. "Oluo is definitely our main way of finding answers right now. I'm sure there will be some files on him in your principal's office. They might be worth checking out."

"Not to mention how Mr Smith barely did anything after the gun accusation. He might have been told about other things Oluo has done. He could have some records of it," I added, watching as Jean gave another nod.

"Tonight, then?"

I nodded. "Tonight."


	8. Celebreations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean and Eren break into the school building to try and find out what's going on with the residents of Trost, before celebrating and coming clean about their emotions.

Jean and I ended up staying sat on the beach until the sun had set, either talking about the plan for tonight or just sitting in a comfortable silence. He then drove me back to school, saying he'd text me later. The plan was that he would go home, steal Nile's keys so we could unlock the school doors, then sneak out at around eleven o clock. It was only quarter past seven when I got back to my dorm, and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep myself distracted from Krista if I was alone for more than five minutes.

Luckily, I had Armin. I hadn't spoken to him since the day before, and I knew he'd do me the favour of not bringing up today's events if it was clear I didn't want him to. So, I went to his dorm room, which was opposite to my own, and talked to him about anything and everything except Krista.

It was nice. I was always amazed how easy it was to talk to Armin, as though we had known each other for our whole life instead of just two short weeks. I guessed that lots of people must feel that way around him. There was just something about him that made him so easy to have conversations with. 

When I got a text from Jean at eleven fifteen, I told Armin goodnight before making my way out of his room. He was probably relieved, really. Armin usually went to sleep before eleven, and would often study for most of the hour before then. 

I grabbed my backpack before leaving the dorm building, responding to the message from Jean that had read he was on his way. I told him that I'd meet him in the parking lot, hoping that he wasn't actually driving whilst texting because if the past two days had taught me anything, it was that Jean was very prone to dying.

Luckily I didn't have to worry for long, as it wasn't too long before Jean arrived, a wide grin spread across his face as he stepped out of the car and showed off a set of keys he had stolen from Nile. I rolled my eyes, unable to help but grin a little as well, and started walking over to the main school building. 

We both made our way over to the front doors, freezing when we saw one of them open. I cursed under my breath, grabbing Jean's wrist and tugging him over so we were standing behind one of the billboards that showed off Levi Ackerman's photography. Peaking my head round to get a better look, I glanced over to see Petra and Mr Ackerman standing by the front doors.

"They're totally fucking each other," Jean said jokingly, and I quickly elbowed him in the side in response. "What was that for? It's probably true."

"Don't be fucking gross, man. I hope it's not true," I said, looking over at him as I spoke. He just rolled his eyes, looking over at Petra and Levi again and humming lightly when the two finally stopped talking and walked off in different directions.

"Finally," he mumbled quietly once they were both completely out of sight, pulling the set of keys out of his pocket and making his way over to the front doors. 

I let out a shaky breath as we entered and closed the doors behind us, looking around the dark and empty hallways. Jean glanced back at me, sensing my obvious nerves and raising a brow. "Don't tell me you're scared of the dark, Jaeger."

"Am not," I snapped, sounding a little defensive about it, though I was being honest. "It's just, well, what we're doing isn't exactly legal. What if we get caught?"

"We won't get caught," he assured, already unlocking the door to the waiting room outside of the principal's office. "Anyway, if we do get caught then you can just use your rewind power, can't you?"

"I wouldn't exactly count on my power from now on, Jean. It might stop working again like it did when I had to help Krista," I mumbled, not wanting to think back on what had happened, watching as Jean crouched down in front of the door to Mr Smith's office.

"And yet you still managed to save her," he said, glancing back up at me for a moment before concentrating on finding the right key for the principal's office. "We're not going to get caught, okay? Just calm down."

I sighed, leaning back against the wall and staring down at my feet. "I guess."

He just nodded, staying quiet for a few more moments as he switched between each key. "The fuck," he mumbled under his breath after the last key had failed, furrowing his brows and staring down at them. 

"None of them fit?"

"No. Fucking bullshit, man. The head of security should have the keys to the principal's office."

"Maybe Mr Smith is hiding something, then," I said, suddenly feeling we needed to go in a lot more. "What are we gonna do now?"

Jean shrugged. "Reiner taught me how to pick locks once. I can give it a shot," he said, digging through his pockets for a moment before pulling something out. "There could be a spare key somewhere in here, though, so you can try to find it in case this doesn't work out."

I nodded, starting to search through the many draws in the room for a spare key. I was about to give up looking when Jean called me over, a smug grin spread across his face as he opened the door to the office. 

"You'll definitely have to teach me how to do that sometime," I grinned, slipping past him and turning on the light for the room. Jean went straight over to the desk, humming lightly as he sat down and turned on the computer.

"I'm gonna try something on here. Look around for Oluo's file, okay?"

"Okay," I nodded, starting to look around. It didn't take me long to find Oluo's file, and I decided to grab Krista's and Marco's whilst I was at it. Not wanting anyone to find out they were missing, I decided it was best to take photos of each of the pages instead, before putting them all back where I had found them. After that, I went back over to stand behind Jean, looking down at the computer screen with him.

"This is total fucking bullshit," he growled, looking through an email. "Oluo accused Marco of bringing drugs onto the school campus. Nile even backed him up on it!" He sighed then, looking up at me. "What did his file say?"

"Nothing interesting," I shrugged. "It was pretty much just praising him."

"Yeah well that's not what the digital version is like," he said, opening up a file on him. "There's so much wrong with that kid. I mean, fuck, look at this," he said, opening up a photo. At first glance, it just looked like a massive black scribble, but when you looked closer you could see that it was actually writing that read 'Marco in the dark room' over and over. Jean gave a shaky breath, opening up another photo that was just 'Nile' written over and over.

"Oluo certainly is fucked up in the head," I said quietly.

"Yeah, and his fucked-up-self has been writing about Marco and Nile," he said, glancing up at me. "What if they really are the reason Marco is missing?"

"Then at least we know we have a way of finding him," I said, hoping it was reassuring. 

Jean nodded, logging out of the account before turning the computer off. "I know Nile keeps some files in the garage. We can have a look at them tomorrow," he said, leaning back in the chair and fiddling with the desk drawer. He paused for a moment as he looked inside before pulling out an envelope, a grin spreading across his face as he opened it up. "Dude, check out how much cash is in here," he said, pulling some out and flicking through it. "This has got to be at least five grand."

"Yeah, five grand for the handicapped fund," I pointed out, gesturing to the writing on the envelope.

"Oh, come on, you really think that Principal Sketchy would keep charity money in an envelope in his desk drawer? It's probably just money from Oluo's family to keep him quiet about everything."

"I guess," I mumbled, not sounding too convinced. I already knew where Jean was heading with this.

"Dude, don't you realise how perfect this is for us? You know how much I need this money. I'd even have some left over. We could go on a road trip together or something," he grinned, giving me a nudge. 

I rolled my eyes. "Christ. Just take the money," I said, offering a faint smile so he knew I wasn't actually mad or anything. He grinned widely then, closing the drawer and gesturing to my backpack to silently ask if he could put the money in there. I sighed, taking it off and letting him throw the envelope inside. "Great. Can we go now?" I asked, already making my way to the office door.

"Wait, wait. What's this?" He said, and I groaned quietly in response. I turned around, looking over to find Jean pulling out a bottle of strawberry flavoured vodka from one of the drawers. Christ, no wonder this town was so fucked if teachers were storing vodka in their desks.

"Put it back, Jean."

"Don't be such a buzzkill, man. Don't you think we deserve a way to celebrate?"

I just sighed, glancing down at the bottle. "I guess it would be nice to take my mind off of everything," I mumbled, leaning back against the wall for a moment. "I'm not drinking at school, though. And I don't want you driving drunk, either."

"Then we'll just drive back to my place first," he shrugged. "I live right by the beach so we can just drive back to mine then go have a drink down there. You can stay at my place overnight, too, like when we were kids."

"Oh, yeah, 'cause we were out drinking vodka on the beach as kids too," I said, though I understood what he meant. I sighed softly, shaking my head for a moment before grinning faintly. "Alright, then. Let's do it."

Jean grinned, handing the vodka over to me so he could lock all the doors on our way out. We made our way back to his car, and before he started it up he took the bottle back from me and opened it up, taking a quick drink. I gave him a quick shove, returning the glare he gave me with one of my own. "I told you not to drink before we got there, you dumbass."

Jean rolled his eyes, handing the bottle back over to me. "Okay, firstly, I barely drank any. Secondly, it's not gonna kick in for like another ten minutes or so."

"I guess," I mumbled quietly, looking back down at the bottle for a moment before sighing and drinking some as well. It tasted nice at first, the strawberry flavour managing to mask any other taste, but the aftertaste was like what I assumed hand sanitizer would taste of. My face scrunched up, and even in the dark lighting, it must have been obvious because then Jean started laughing.

"Fuck, Jaeger, don't tell me you're an alcohol virgin," he grinned, and when I didn't respond he just laughed a little more. "God, you're so innocent now."

"Fuck off," I muttered, flipping him off before chugging down a third of the bottle. Jean just raised his brows at me before looking away again, not saying anything as he started up the truck with a faint grin on his face. 

By the time we had reached his house, parked his car in the driveway, and started making our way down to the actual beach; my vision was starting to get a little cloudy. Jean just laughed as he turned around to see me stumbling slightly on the sand behind him, still looking completely sober himself.

"Didn't think it'd take effect on you that quick. Maybe you shouldn't have drunk so much," he said, walking back over to me and taking my hand in his. We kept walking for a little while, with me staring down at our hands the entire time, before sitting down on the sand somewhere.

Jean took the drink away from me, having some more himself before putting it off to the side and leaning back on his hands and staring up at the sky. "Do you think the world is ending?"

I gave a quiet groan, reaching over him to grab the vodka again. "I thought I told you one of the reasons I wanted to drink was so I could forget about all of that crap.

"We can't just ignore it, though," he said, looking me over for a moment as I drank. "Have you ever heard of chaos theory?"

"Isn't that, like that butterfly thing?" I asked, drinking some more before handing him the bottle.

"Uh, well, they're related, I guess," he said, putting the bottle off to the side. "Though, now that you've mentioned that... Well, I mean, don't a lot of people believe that if you were to change the past at all, it would completely fuck up the future?"

I raised my brows slightly, trying to understand what he was getting at but finally deciding it was too confusing for the moment. "Aren't you supposed to be all against science and maths or whatever now that you're all punk and shit," I mumbled, just wanting to change the subject.

"Just because I have blue hair and tattoos doesn't mean I don't know anything," he said, though it seemed like he was going to let the subject go.

I looked him over for a few moments, having to concentrate on what he had said for it to process properly. I widened my eyes then, smiling widely and tugging at his jacket. "I wanna see your tattoos!"

Jean raised a brow, looking me over for a moment before chuckling, his facial features softening. "Alright," he said, sitting up properly and taking off his jacket and shirt. I felt my cheeks heat up slightly as I stared down at his abs, eventually moving my gaze up to look at the tattoo spread across his collarbone.

I didn't know what I had expected to see, but this wasn't it. The tattoo was pretty simple, just a few red flowers. Before I could get much of a better look at it, though, Jean was turning around, sitting with his back to me. 

My lips tugged up into a small smile when I saw the tattoo that ran up the whole of his right side, going up onto his arm and ending just before his elbow. Unlike the coloured flowers, this tattoo was just black. It was a pattern which I was sure would be described as a tribal tattoo and, God, did he look good with it.

Without even telling myself to, I reached forward, lightly running my fingers along the tattoo down his back. A shiver ran through him, but he didn't say anything as he stayed looking ahead of himself.

"Looks great," I mumbled quietly, mindlessly tracing along the tattoo. "You look great."

"I know," he said cockily, though even with alcohol clouding my mind I didn't miss the nerves showing through his voice. He reached for his shirt again, straightening it out like he was about to put it back on. "It's, uh, getting kind of cold."

"No," I said quietly, shuffling forward and wrapping my arms around him from behind to try to warm him up. "I like you like this. Before I moved your voice hadn't even dropped," I murmured, resting my face between his shoulder blades. "I like you like this."

Jean sighed, putting the shirt back down to the side. He stayed still for a moment, and I gladly took the time to nuzzle against him. He eventually pulled away, moving so he was sitting facing me again, ignoring me as I whined childishly in response. I stared up at him, waiting for him to say something and looking away when I guessed he wasn't going to.

Jean seemed to hesitate slightly before moving a little closer to me, carefully reaching over and gently lifting my chin back up so I was looking at him. I let out a shaky breath, hesitantly moving in a little closer. When he didn't pull away, I picked up my last bit of courage, leaning in the rest of the way and pressing our lips together.

He pulled away then.

I swallowed thickly as I looked up at him, my vision starting to go blurry. Fuck, no, there was no way I could let myself cry about this, especially not right in front of him. There was no way I was going to let him see me like this.

"Fuck," I choked out, dropping my head into my hands and trying desperately to stop the tears from flowing out of me. I couldn't seem to help it, though, and my breathing deepened with each passing second. "I'm sorry. I thought- fuck, I'm such a fucking idiot," I blurted out between sobs, feeling myself shrink away from him out of embarrassment. "After what you said this morning I thought you might like me and- fuck, I'm sorry."

He stayed quiet for another few moments, the only sound filling the silence being my laboured breathing as I continued to cry. He reached forward, trying to tug one of my hands away and sighing when I refused to let him. "You weren't wrong, Eren. I did- I mean, I do like you that way."

"Bullshit," I said, moving my hands away to look up at him. "Why won't you just kiss me back, then?"

"Because I don't want to start anything with you only to have you leave me again," he snapped, looking a little guilty when I visibly flinched at how harsh his voice was compared to before. "Listen," he said after a moment, his voice a little softer now. "It's hard enough just being your friend and having to think that you might leave me. I don't want to get so attached because it'd crush me if you left again..."

"You're such a dumbass," I said, my voice still scratchy from crying, and I rubbed my face to try to look normal again. "I'm not going to leave you again. I'm never going to leave you again," I promised, shuffling forward and slipping my arms around his waist. I smiled a little when he wrapped his arms around me as well, and shyly buried my face in his chest. "Please trust me."

He sighed softly, moving one of his hands and gently moving me so I was looking back up at him again. He gave a nervous smile before leaning in, running one of his hands through my hair and kissing me deeply. I sighed happily against his lips, holding him close as I kissed him back. 

He eventually pulled away, and I returned his smile with one of my own.

"I trust you, Eren."


	9. Files

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren finally finds out what Nile has been hiding, but he's left wishing he didn't have to tell Jean about any of it.

"Fuck," I groaned, squinting my eyes open at the sound of my alarm going off and hurriedly trying to find it in the pocket of my jeans to turned it off. I let out a sigh of relief at the sudden silence, laying back in bed and staring up at the ceiling.

It took a few moments for me to catch up with reality, quickly remembering where I was and who I was with. I looked over to my left, biting down on my lower lip when I saw Jean still sleeping beside me. He was shirtless, and I had to take a moment to try to recall the events of the night before.

I honestly couldn't remember much after I tried to kiss Jean for the first time, and even the moments leading up to then were a little patchy. All I knew was that he ended up kissing back and that I was now in bed with him and... Well, he was shirtless.

Did we...?

Fuck, I hoped not. I mean, it wasn't that I didn't want to. It was just that I'd rather have been able to remember it if we had.

I glanced down at myself, realising I was only wearing my sweater and my boxers. Hesitating for a moment first, I ended up lifting the covers to check if Jean was wearing anything else. 

"Having fun there, Jaeger?"

I jumped slightly at the sound of his voice, jerking my hand away from the covers and looking over to meet his gaze. His cocky grin only made me feel more nervous, blood rushing to my cheeks as I stuttered out an explanation. "Sorry. I, uh, just got curious because... Well, I mean, I wanted to know if, uh..."

"If we fucked?" He said bluntly, finishing off the sentence that I had trailed off from. He laughed a little when I awkwardly looked away, nudging me gently to get me to look at him again. "Don't look so nervous. Nothing like that happened."

I let out a sigh of relief, giving a small nod. "Good. I mean, not that I wouldn't want to," I explained quickly, trying not to give in to the urge to look away again. "Just, you know, I'd rather not have whilst drunk and then not even remember it."

"I know," he said, looking away as he reached over to lazily hold onto my hand. I followed his gaze, giving his hand a light squeeze. "You remember what happened before we went inside, though, right?"

I gave another nod. "I remember."

"Good," he said quietly, squeezing my hand gently in return. I stayed staring down at our hands for a few moments before sighing and reluctantly pulling away to get out of bed. We still needed to find a way to look at Nile's files without him knowing, and we weren't going to be able to do that if we were lying in bed.

I dragged my fingers through my hair as I crouched down by the bed to pick up my jeans, wrinkling my nose slightly at the salty smell and the damp feeling of them. "Did we go in the ocean last night or something?" I asked, standing up again so I was looking at Jean.

"You wanted to go for a dip," he shrugged, moving so he was leaning his back against the headboard. "If you want, you can just borrow some of my clothes."

"Right," I mumbled, turning around and opening his closet door to find something to wear. "Uh, no offence, man, but you're not exactly my style," I mumbled, looking through the many band t-shirts and ripped jeans. I gave a soft hum then, grabbing a few hangers with clothes that wouldn't make me look like the stereotype of a school dropout. "I like these."

"Of course, you do," he said, rolling his eyes and smiling a little. I didn't really understand his response. I had chosen a black and white striped t-shirt, black jeans, and a greenish-brown shirt. "Those are Marco's clothes."

"Oh!" My eyes widened slightly at that. "Uh, well, I mean I can just grab something else to wear. I don't want it to be weird if I'm, uh, like..."

"Calm down, man. Just wear the damn clothes, it's not a big deal," he shrugged. I just nodded, pulling off my sweater and ignoring Jean's obvious stares as I got dressed. Once I was done, he started searching through his bedside drawer, pulling out a container a few moments later and starting to roll out a cigarette. "Mom will be making breakfast about now. You can head on down without me. I gotta wake 'n bake first."

"Of course, you do," I mumbled, smiling a little and rolling my eyes before grabbing my backpack and making my way out of the room. It felt a little weird just wandering around his house like this, especially when I was pretty sure his mom wasn't even aware that I had stayed over, but given how casual Jean seemed about it I could only guess that he either didn't care or everyone was used to Marco randomly staying over anyway. It was probably both.

"Morning, Linda," I greeted, offering Jean's mother a faint smile as I entered the kitchen.

"Oh! Marco- I mean, Eren," she smiled, taking a moment to look me over. "Sorry, you look so much like him in those clothes. Anyway, what would you like for breakfast?"

"Eggs and bacon?" I suggested deciding to just ignore the Marco comment for the moment. 

"Sure thing," she smiled, quickly grabbing the ingredients and starting to prepare everything. I leant back against the counter, watching her as she started to fry the egg. "It's good to have you around again," she started, glancing up as she spoke to me. "I know Jeanie hasn't really had many friends other that you and Marco."

"Yeah," I mumbled, hesitating a moment before speaking again. "Do you think Marco is okay?" I asked, my voice a little quieter now, worried about what her answer would be.

"I hope so."

That meant no then. Neither of us wanted to say it, but we both knew how slim the chances of him being okay were.

"I hope so too," I said, deciding that it was best to just leave the subject there. Miss Kirschtein seemed to agree that was a good idea, as she just nodded and said nothing more. Not too long later, the eggs and bacon were ready and I mumbled a quiet thank you before walking over to sit at the table to eat. 

Linda followed me into the room, and out of the corner of my eye, I watched her search through the bookshelf in the corner whilst I ate. It wasn't long then before she was walking over to sit opposite me, a wide smile spread across her face as she opened up a photo album and laid it out on the table.

"Having you back here makes it feel like the days back when you and Jean were still kids," she said, slowly flicking through the pages in the album. She paused when she reached one of the pages, sighing softly before pulling out one of the photos. "You remember this day, don't you?" She asked, turning the photo so I could look at it. It was a photo of me and Jean together, both smiling widely with cake mix smeared across our faces. We were only around thirteen years old.

I bit down on my lip as I looked down at it, giving a small nod in answer. "Yeah, I do," I answered. How could I forget? Jean's dad - his real dad - had taken that photo the same day he had the accident. It was the last time Jean and I saw him still alive and well. "Jean looks happy in that photo."

"He hasn't quite been the same since that day," she commented, staring down at the photo for a few more moments before holding it out to me. "I thought it would be nice for you to have this. Maybe with you back here, Jean will start acting more like his old, happy self again.

I offered a thankful smile as I took the photo, looking it over one last time before carefully putting it in my pocket. Jean walked into the room just as I was doing so, mumbling a quiet 'morning' to his mom as he did.

He sat down in the seat next to me, waiting for his mother to head back into the kitchen before slipping his hand under the table to hold onto mine. "You need to search for those files in the garage," he whispered quietly in my ear, making sure his voice was low enough so his mother couldn't hear. "I know he has something hidden on his laptop too. I'll stay here otherwise my ma will know something's up."

I gave a short nod, reluctantly letting go of his hand as I stood up. I glanced over at his mother, making sure she wasn't paying attention, before walking ahead and opening up the door to the garage that was placed opposite where Jean was sitting. 

Closing the door behind me, I glanced around the room for the laptop Jean had mentioned. It was easy to find, sitting open on top of the counter. I walked over to use it, groaning quietly when the login screen needed a password. 

"Great," I muttered, standing up straight again and looking around the room. Maybe he had written the password down somewhere? It seemed pretty unlikely, though. That wasn't exactly the type of thing I'd expect from Nile.

Jean did mention other files as well, though. There had to be some physical copies of what was on his computer somewhere. I started searching through the drawers, pausing when I saw an old photo of Nile. He was wearing a military uniform in it... I never knew that he had been in the military but, thinking about it now, it wasn't exactly surprising to find out he had been.

I put the photo away and continued to search through the drawers. When I couldn't find anything in them, I moved to search through the cupboards that were above the counter. None of them had anything interesting in them apart from the last one.

In the cupboard, there was an old TV that had been left turned on. I furrowed my brows slightly, looking a little closer at the rooms that were on screen. It was clearly surveillance footage, which in itself was creepy, but it wasn't just showing some random house or the school building. It was this house, and the TV was showing live footage from every single room in the house.

Was Nile seriously that paranoid? Or was he just some creepy pervert? Fuck, there was so much wrong with that guy.

I shut the cupboard door, making a mental note to bring it up to Jean later. Although it proved that Nile was a creep, it didn't prove he had any connections with Oluo or Marco. I had to keep looking for those files.

It didn't take too long to find them. They were sitting on top of the cupboards, pushed to the very back, and I had to climb up onto the counter to reach them.

I leant back against the drawers as I pulled out the pages, biting down on my lip as I read through them. The first thing I saw was a photo of Marco standing outside an RV, his arms wrapped around Reiner's waist.

There were some notes written under the photo as well. It seemed pretty clear that Marco and Reiner had hooked up, and by what I was reading it seemed like it had happened on more than just one occasion.

Didn't Jean say that he didn't think they even knew each other too well? There wasn't exactly a reason for him to lie about that, so he was probably as clueless about it as I had been. It didn't make any sense to me, though. I thought him and Marco had been so close, why would he not tell Jean about this?

Fuck, I'd have to talk to Jean about it later. 

I started looking through the other pages. There wasn't much left in the file, and what was there was mostly just on Krista. Nile seemed pretty sure that she had been doing drugs, which was why he had been confronting her the other day.

The last page I found in the file had my name at the top of it. Underneath my name were my class schedule, my student ID, and my dorm room number. I decided to just shrug it off as information he kept as head of security, knowing that what I had found out about Marco was much more important to bring up to Jean.

I quickly shoved everything back into the file and placed it on top of the cupboards before leaving the garage. Jean was still sitting there, his mother thankfully still in the kitchen where she wouldn't be able to see me walk back in. 

'Find anything?' he mouthed at me.

I nodded, making my way back over to the table to sit beside him. Before I could even reach the table, I heard footsteps coming down the staircase. Linda and Jean were already downstairs, and I felt myself tense up a little at the realisation that it was Nile.

He was already dressed in his security guard uniform, thank fuck, and as he turned the corner it was clear he was less than pleased to see me.

"Oh, great. Of course, you're here," he grumbled, walking over and standing opposite use at the table and looking me over. "Is that your Marco Bodt Halloween costume?"

"Well, you'd know. You seem to know a lot about him," I snapped, furrowing my brows and moving so Jean could stand next to me.

"And you seem to think you know a lot about everything. You need to watch yourself-"

"Nile, please stop talking to Eren like that," Linda interrupted, coming over so she was standing with the rest of us.

"He should stop talking to everybody like that," Jean said, folding his arms beside me. "Eren told me that you were harassing Krista the other day. You shouldn't-"

"Don't start, Jean. Not now," Nile said sternly, taking a few steps closer to him.

"It's true, though. You can't just go around talking to people like that," I said, moving closer to Jean in a protective manner. "You out of all people should have known how rough of a time Krista was having since you were walking around taking photos of her. Why do you have photos of her and Marco in your files, anyway?"

Jean's mother raised her brows slightly at that. "Is that true, Nile? Why have you been taking photos of these people?"

Nile's eyes widened slightly, and it was clear that he hadn't expected Linda to side with me and Jean. "I- I do not have to answer that."

"Well, until you can find a way to answer it, I think you should find somewhere else to stay," she said, walking off before he could even respond. 

I glanced up at Jean, who had the biggest smirk on his face I'd ever seen. "See you never," he said to Nile before grabbing my hand as he turned to leave. "That was fucking amazing," he said, looking down at me with a grin.

"Yeah, well, I still have to talk to you about what I found in those files," I said, not wanting to bring his mood down but knowing I shouldn't hold back any information.

"Do it in the car," he shrugged, opening the front door and going over to his car that was parked in the driveway. He seemed to hesitate a moment as he looked me over, before leaning down and kissing me."Thanks for standing up to him with me."

I sighed. I really didn't want to have to bring down his mood after making him so happy. 

"No problem."


	10. Redo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren tells Jean about what he found in the garage, and after doing some research of their own he's left in a worse mood than ever. Eren finds a way that he thinks will help, and when he sees the results of what he did he is left speechless.

Jean and I got in his car, sitting in silence as he drove. I didn't know where exactly he was planning on going , I just guessed he probably wanted to be anywhere but at home.

I was still trying to figure out the best way to tell him about what I had found in Nile's files. I needed to tell him about the cameras in his house as well, but I knew that wouldn't make his mood as bad as him finding out Marco hooked up with Reiner would. 

"Are you just gonna sit in silence or are you gonna tell me what you found?" Jean asked, still smiling a little as he glanced over in my direction. God, I really didn't want to wipe that smile off his face.

I knew I had to, though.

"I think Marco hooked up with Reiner," I said simply, the words coming out as an uncertain mumble.

Jean's brows furrowed, his expression immediately changing to one of annoyance. There was no point telling him about the cameras now. It was best to try to stay on the topic of Marco.

"The hell are you talking about? They barely even knew each other, there's no way they had sex."

I held back a sigh, finally picking up the courage to actually look at him as I spoke."Look, I know you think that but maybe there were some things in his life which he just never told you about. I really think that-"

"You didn't know him, though, Eren," he snapped, his grip tightening on the steering wheel as he looked over at me. "I don't care what you /think/. Marco wouldn't lie to me like that, okay? Whatever-the-fuck you found in those files doesn't prove that they were together in any way."

"Jean, I know you don't want to believe it but that doesn't make it any less true," I said, leaning forward slightly as I spoke to him. "What about Marco's bracelet? This would explain why Reiner has it," I added, biting down on my lip as I waited for a response.

He just stared straight ahead, staying silent for a few more moments before making a sound that was a mix of a sigh and a groan. He glanced around the road before doing a U-turn, refusing to look at me as he continued driving.

"Reiner will be at the diner now. We can take a look in his RV so I can prove that you're wrong."

~

It wasn't long before he was parking opposite Scouts, not even waiting for me to catch up as he got out of the car and crossed the road to the parking lot beside the diner. I walked quickly behind him, watching as he went up to the building and peeked through one of the windows.

"Reiner is in there. Knowing him, he's probably left the RV unlocked, so we can easily check it out without him finding out," he told me before turning around and heading to the vehicle. 

He tugged on the handle, the corners of his lips briefly turning up into a smug grin when he was able to open it. He only opened it about an inch or so before closing it again, glancing around the area as he did. After a moment of looking, he walked off to behind the diner, taking less than a minute before returning.

He was holding a large bone in his hand, and only ended up saying something about it after a raised a brow at him. 

"Reiner has a psycho dog. If you don't want to get your hand bitten off, then I'd suggest you throw this once I open the door," he said, holding the bone out to me.

I rolled my eyes, taking the bone from him and moving to stand to the side of the door. Of course, Reiner had a dog that tried to bite any strangers. I honestly wasn't even surprised.

Jean looked over at me, giving a small nod as he met my gaze before opening the door. As soon as there was enough room, the dog was out of there, and I immediately threw the bone to the other side of the parking lot before it could get any closer to me. Luckily, the bone trick worked and the dog ran off and stayed where the bone had been thrown to chew on it.

"Stupid mutt," Jean mumbled, walking inside the RV with me right behind him. I closed the door, glancing around as I did so.

To say Reiner's place was a mess would be an understatement. All surfaces were covered in empty cans and old pizza boxes. The sink was full of unwashed dishes and the floor had dog food spilt across it. Even the walls looked dirty.

"Great to see that some things never change," Jean said, kicking a Chinese takeaway box out of his way. "This place looks as shit as it was the last time I came here."

"I guess I wouldn't expect much else from a drug dealer," I mumbled, walking over to one of the counters and watching Jean sit at the small desk placed right against the wall.

"Well, have fun looking around this mess for evidence of something that never happened. I'm gonna search his computer for shit," he said, leaning his elbow on the desk and turning on the old computer that sat on it.

I didn't bother responding, knowing whatever I could say would just irritate him more. Instead, I got straight to looking around the area. I went to the back of the RV, which seemed to serve as Reiner's bedroom. It was just as messy as the rest of his place, with boxes covering most of the floor in the corner and under the bed. 

I crouched down on the floor, starting to look through the boxes under his bed first. I didn't know what I was expecting to find, exactly. Maybe it was best if I couldn't find anything at all. It would be a lot easier on Jean since then we could just say I was wrong about Marco and Reiner.

Easier didn't mean it would be for the best, though. Even though it would suck for Jean to find out I was right, it would at least tell us why Reiner had the bracelet and maybe even give us more information on what exactly happened to Marco. In the long run, at least, it would be better if we were able to find evidence that Marco had hooked up with Reiner.

When I couldn't find anything in the boxes I started looking in the cupboards. I paused halfway through when I caught sight of something behind one of the vents. After glancing around for a moment I spotted a large kitchen knife and quickly went over to grab it to try and use it to pry the vent open.

I managed to get it open pretty easily, though I did end up breaking the knife in the process. What I had spotted behind the vent turned out to be an account book, which I guessed explained why Reiner had hidden it.

Sitting down on the bed, I started flicking through it. The names of his clients were all in code, so I didn't bother wasting much time looking through them. I bit down on my lip when I reached the back of the book, my eyes being met with a photo of Marco.

He was shirtless, smiling widely with his hands above his head, looking as though he was dancing. Next to it was a photo of Marco and Reiner together, with the blonde's arms wrapped around the other. From what I had found in the garage, I had really just guessed that the two were just having sex and that was that, but from what I was looking at now it seemed like it had been a lot more than that. Maybe it was just how Marco had been with everyone, but it looked like they both genuinely cared about the other.

I turned over to the next page, expecting to find another photo but instead being met with a handwritten note. My thoughts from the two photos seemed to only be proved more correct, as the note was from Marco and mentioned how much he enjoyed spending time with Reiner. He had also written how he had had a 'great time last night' and that he wished they could 'drive out of town together.'

Hadn't Jean said that he and Marco were supposed to have been the ones leaving town together?

A shiver ran through me at the thought of having to see Jean's reaction to reading this. I turned the page again, finding yet another note from Marco. The writing was a lot messier than it had been for the last one and was scribbled out on the back of an old fishing leaflet. The note read:

'Reiner,

I really don't appreciate the way you acted last night. It honestly scared me and I thought you'd never be able to calm down. I think it's best that we take a break from each other for now.  
-Marco'

I bit down on my lip, wondering what the hell had happened between the two and if it had anything to do with Marco's disappearance. I hoped to God that it hadn't, but it wouldn't surprise me if Reiner had hurt Marco physically in any way.

"You ready to admit you were wrong yet, Jaeger?" Jean called from where he was sitting, and I decided it best not to say anything as I made my way back over to him and handed him the book.

He flicked his gaze between me and the closed book, his expression changing as he realised I had actually found something. "The fuck is this?" He asked, finally settling his gaze on me as he spoke.

"Flick to the back," I directed gently, watching his expression carefully as he did as I had told him. At first, when he was looking at the first photo, he just looked angry, but when he saw the second photo and then even more so when he read the first note, he looked hurt more than anything else.

"How the hell could he hide this from me?" He said quietly after a few moments of silence, placing his head in his hand as he handed the book back over to me.

I took the book, knowing that I'd want to take it with us when we left. Using my free hand I reached forward, moving to rest my hand on Jean's shoulder, only for him to flinch away from me.

My hand was still frozen in the air as he just stared down at the table, and I tried not to be offended by his reaction. After a few more moments of silence, he stood up, mumbling "let's go," as he made his way out of the RV.

I obediently followed behind him, shoving the book in my backpack and closing the RV door as I did so. I jogged over to him, slipping my hand into his in an attempt to comfort him.

He pulled away the moment I held his hand.

"Not now, Eren," he mumbled, still refusing to look at me.

I grabbed his wrist, then, having to hold him tight to keep him in place. "Can't you at least talk to me about this? Look, I know your upset but-"

"No, Eren, you don't know shit," he interrupted, glaring down at me and managing to pull his arm away as my hold on him loosened. "How could you even begin to think you know anything at all about my life when you left me for five years?"

I raised my brow slightly, clearly taken aback by what he had said. "What? Jean, you know I had no say in me moving away."

"Yeah, but you still had the choice to keep in touch," he said, voice raised and his breathing shaky as he took a step forward to face me properly. "You knew how shit I was feeling and you still left me! My dad died and then you moved and couldn't even be bothered to send a fucking postcard. Of course, it turns out that even Marco wasn't ever really there for me - just like everyone else in my life."

"I'm sorry I left you okay? But I'm here for you now."

"For how long, though? A year? A week?" He took a few steps back, dragging both of his hands through his hair. "I can't believe I thought for even a second that I could actually have someone in my life who would actually be there for me. I mean, let's face it, ever since my dad died my life has gone to complete shit. God, you should have just let Oluo shoot me."

"Don't say shit like that," I said quickly, hating to imagine what it would have been like if I hadn't been able to rewind and save him. I honestly couldn't think of anything worse. "Fuck, Jean, I know how hard it was for you - how hard it still is for you - but, fuck, you have to move on. You can't keep spending every day of your life feeling sorry for yourself because of what happened." 

"Are you fucking serious?" He asked, dropping his hands back down to his side and glaring down at me. "Eren, my dad died and then you left me. I felt so fucking isolated for ages and then when I finally found someone who was there for me, they left too! And, as you so happily proved, they weren't ever really there for me to begin with! I just, fuck- you have no fucking idea how awful it is to wait for your dad to come home as a kid and he never does."

"I know I don't," I started, trying my best to calm myself down so I wouldn't make Jean feel any worse. "But I was there with you the day it happened and-"

"And then you left me as well," he said, his voice back down to a normal volume, sounding completely defeated. "Shame you didn't have your powers back then. Maybe if you had gone back and saved him my life wouldn't be so shit." 

I bit down on my lip as I listened to him. He sounded so serious and so... Well, so sad. He wasn't being cocky or angry or sarcastic, he was just sad. It sounded like he had just given up.

He sighed, dragging his fingers through his hair and turning a little away from me. "I just want to be alone for a little while. I'll see you later," he mumbled, before walking off down the street.

Fuck, why couldn't he just let go the fact that I moved? I was here now, wasn't that all that mattered? He wasn't the only one with problems. I mean, fuck, one of my friends just tried to kill themselves for Christ's sake. Everyone had problems.

And yet...

And yet I knew I shouldn't be annoyed with him. I knew he had every right to being angry at me and the universe because he was right. Everyone closest to him had left him. None of us really chose to, but we had. Even his mom, who still loved him dearly, had moved on to be with Nile and left Jean to continue mourning on his own. Jean used to be so close to his parents, and now it seemed like he wasn't close to anyone at all.

"Fuck," I groaned, dropping my head in my hands and taking a deep breath before starting to walk. Jean had managed to disappear already and his car was still sitting in the parking lot opposite. I decided it was probably best to just let him cool off on his own, anyway, and started walking off in the other direction I thought he had gone.

I ended up walking for ten minutes or so, trying to clear my head and not focus on Jean too much. It was difficult to not think of him, though, and I found myself getting more and more worried about him as time went on. 

I leant back against the brick wall that was surrounding someone's house, pulling out the photo that I still had in my pocket and staring down at it. With everything that had happened to him, it seemed like the day the photo was taken had been the last time Jean was ever truly happy. 

I wish it hadn't been the last time. I'd do anything to see him genuinely happy again...

/"Hey! Stop wiping cake mix on me, you dork!"/

"What the fuck?" I breathed, jerking my hands back and letting go of the photo after hearing a voice seem to come out from it. I stared down at where it lay on the ground, taking a moment to realise that the voice had been Jean's. Except, it had still come from the photo. It sounded like Jean before his voice broke...

Letting out a shaky breath, I bent down and picked the photo back up, carefully holding it in both hands. Had I actually gone crazy?

I concentrated on the photo again, and only a few moments later I could hear Jean's voice again. He wasn't just speaking, though, he was /laughing/. He was, well, happy.

Seemingly out of instinct, I found myself concentrating more and more on the photo. I don't know what I was expecting to happen. Maybe I just wanted to hear Jean's laughter some more.

As I focused more on the photo, everything else around me seemed to go blurry, as though the photo was the only thing I was seeing.

And then everything went white. It was only for a moment, and during that moment everything was completely silent. When my vision finally started coming back Jean's voice did as well, except instead of coming from a photo it was coming from right beside me.

The blurred view I had of the area around me quickly returned to focus, but instead of being leant back on a wall like I had been before I was standing in a kitchen with Jean's dad less than a meter away from me.

He was holding up an instant camera, smiling widely as a photo printed out from it. I quickly glanced over to the right of me, my gaze meeting that of a much younger Jean's. His hair was blonde again and instead of being covered in tattoos and piercings, he was instead just covered in cake mix. He smiled happily at me, and I did my best to return the gesture in my current state of shock.

Had I really gone back in time to the day that photo was taken? 

Fuck, my head hurt just from thinking about how that was even possible. Then again, given the events of the past few days (or future days?), it didn't seem too farfetched. That didn't make it any less weird, though. I was my eighteen-year-old self in my thirteen-year-old body, for fucks sake. There was nothing about the situation that was at all normal.

"You feeling okay, Eren? I hope the flash didn't scare you."

I looked up when I heard Jean's father, Hannes, speaking, his words taking a moment to register. Jean just laughed, walking over to me from where he had moved to stand behind his father. "He's fine dad," he assured, nudging me playfully and smiling down at me. "Right, Eren?"

"Right," I answered without fully meaning to. The answer seemed to be believable enough and, after smiling a little more at me, Jean went back over to the kitchen counter to help Hannes put the cake mix into cupcake cases.

I just watched them for a few moments, taking in the whole situation. Jean was just so carefree and happy, It was great to see him like that again. It was great to see Hannes again, too. He really had been like a second father to me since I always used to spend so much time at their house.

I glanced around the room before walking into the hallway. My brows furrowed when I looked to where I knew the front door was, though I couldn't actually see at as the entire area was just white. It was like a boundary that was set around where the photo had been taken...

I visibly flinched when the house phone started ringing, already knowing who was on the other line. Hannes went into the hallway to answer the call, which I already knew was from Jean's mother. I knew she had left her purse at home and was going to ask him to bring it for her so she could buy some groceries. I knew that on his way to her, he would crash the car and Jean wouldn't ever be able to see him alive again. I knew that because of Hannes' death, Jean's life would take a bad turn and he'd never be as happy as he had been when his father was alive.

I couldn't let that happen again. There was no way I was going to let that happen to Jean.

Before Hannes could finish up on the phone with Linda, I ran into the living room and started searching for his keys. If he couldn't find his keys then he wouldn't be able to drive, and if he couldn't drive then he wouldn't be able to get into an accident, which meant that Jean could still be happy.

Luckily it didn't take me too long to find them, though really I guess it didn't matter how long it took since I always could have done a rewind if I didn't find them in time. As soon as I got them I shoved them in the front pocket in my jeans and watched as Hannes tried to find them.

"Have you seen my keys anywhere, Eren?" He asked, still searching for them as he spoke. "I could have sworn I had left them on the table here."

"Sorry, haven't seen them," I lied, going over to him and pretending to look for them under the clutter on the table. "You could just catch the bus," I suggested, "I don't think it should be too long until the next one arrives at the stop down the road."

He gave a light hum, standing up straight again and staring down at the table for a few more moments before shifting his gaze to me. "I guess you're right," he said, offering a smile before grabbing Linda's purse and making his way to the front door. "Make sure not to burn the house down, you two!"

"We won't, dad!" Jean called back, turning to face me after putting the cake trays in the oven. I must have still seemed a little out of it because he walked over to me and nudged me lightly, raising his brows before speaking. "You alright, man?"

My lips curled up into a wide smile, then, the realisation that I had actually managed to save Hannes and therefore help Jean hitting me. "Yeah," I answered, giving a nod, "I'm great."

~

"Eren? Are you listening?"

"Huh?" I looked over to my right, confusion running through me when I saw Petra sitting beside me. I quickly looked around myself, finding that I was sitting in a circle outside of the school dorm building with a bunch of the popular kids. Even Oluo was sitting there.

Hadn't I just been with Jean a moment ago? I guess I was back in the present again, except... Well, this wasn't my present.

I had saved Hannes, so really it was expected that things would be different, wasn't it?

"Jesus, Eren, are you high?" Petra started giggling, fucking /giggling/. The only time I had ever heard her laugh before was when it was at other people, including me.

"Uh, I gotta go," I blurted out, ignoring everyone's questioning looks as I stumbled to my feet and started making my way off of the school grounds. 

I had to find Jean.

I ended up catching the bus to where he lived, hoping that he still actually lived there in this universe. The journey there felt like it was lasting forever, and I felt myself getting nervous because what if I had stopped talking to him in this universe too? What if he didn't even want to be friends with me anymore? What if-

Fuck, I seriously had to stop psyching myself out. There was literally an infinite amount of possibilities of what was going to happen and of what /had/ happened, and there was no way of me knowing which one was this reality unless I found out for myself.

After getting off the bus, I ended up running from the bus stop to his house, feeling way too impatient to wait much longer. I knocked on the front door, nervously bouncing on my heels and playing with the ends of my sleeves as I waited for someone to open up.

It was Hannes who ended up answering the door, and I felt a little relieved to know that there was at least one thing I had done right for this universe. He seemed genuinely happy to see me, too, so I could only guess that Jean didn't absolutely despise me. "Eren! It's so good to see you again. I did hear from someone that you had started going to Rose High."

I gave a sigh of relief. "It's nice to see you again, too. I've been meaning to come over to visit you guys since I got here, but I guess I just wanted to settle in first," I smiled, awkwardly rubbing the nape of my neck.

"That makes sense. Jean's been dying to see you, actually," he said, turning his head to look back in the hallway. "Jean! Guess who's here to visit!"

I shifted nervously as I waited for him to come to the door, trying to calm myself down with the fact that he did actually want to see me. It didn't seem to even matter that I had calmed myself down, though, as any nerves I had was easily replaced with shock when I saw Jean make his way over to the front door. He smiled a little as he looked up at me, but I couldn't manage to smile in return.

I was too distracted by the electric wheelchair he was sitting in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took like a week to write oh God I hope it was worth the wait. When I started the original plan for this fic I wasn't even going to do the whole alternate universe part but I ended up deciding to keep it in (definitely not because I watched the film 'Me Before You' and wanted to write something to hold me out until I possibly write an entire fic based on the film). Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!


	11. Sacrifices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren keeps trying to make everything better for Jean, but with the universe seeming to not be in his favour he is left with few choices available.

I actually ended up having to rewind after seeing Jean for the first time. I was supposed to already know about the accident he had been in and, even though my reaction may have been understandable since it was still my first time seeing him that way in person, I didn't want to risk him being annoyed with my for anything.

Discluding the wheelchair he was in, and the fact that he just looked older in general because of puberty, he really didn't look all too different than he did when he was thirteen. His hair was still blonde, his skin was still all one colour, and his face was free from any piercings.

All I ended up finding out about his accident was that it had been just that - an accident - and that it had left him paralysed from the neck down. It made me feel sick to my stomach from guilt, knowing that I had been the reason it had happened. I hadn't caused his accident first hand, obviously, but if I had just left the past the way it had been then Jean wouldn't be in that damn wheelchair.

Jean and I ended up leaving his house to go for a walk on the path that went along by the beach. Well, I say 'walk', though obviously I was the only one actually walking. Still, I was relieved when Jean brought the idea up, the thought of the waves already managing to calm my nerves a little. 

We made our way over there in semi-awkward silence, neither of us really knowing what to say. It was me who ended up speaking first, my eyes widening a little as we turned the corner to walk on the path beside the sand. "Are those whales?" I asked, still staring off at the sand in the distance. Just from where were standing, I swore I could see at least three of them lying on different parts of the beach.

"You hadn't noticed them until now?" Jean questioned, raising a brow at me and rolling his eyes when I just shrugged. "Apparently, they've been there all day. I can't say I'm even surprised at this point, though, after the snow and that eclipse."

Jesus, even in this universe the town was fucked. 

"It's kind of worrying, isn't it?" I asked, my voice quiet as I glanced down at him. "It's like it's the end of the world or something."

"Like I'd care," he snorted, looking straight ahead of himself and shaking his head a little. "It's not like I have a life worth living, anyway."

I stared down at him, the words hurting to hear even though I knew I'd feel the same way if I were in his position. "Don't say shit like that, man."

"You know it's true," he mumbled, staring down at the ground for a few moments before sighing softly and looking up at me again with a weak smile. "It's great to see you again, though. And, uh, thanks for keeping in touch and everything - even if it was only with the occasional letter."

At least I had made some effort to stay in contact with him in this universe. "It's good seeing you again too," I smiled, purposefully not commenting on the letters because it really didn't sound like I had tried that hard to keep in touch with him. "It was nice seeing your dad again as well."

"Yeah, my parents are probably just as glad you're back in the area as I am. They're always talking about when we were younger."

"Typical parents," I said, offering a small smile before glancing away and biting down on my lip. "How are they, uh, coping with everything?"

"They're not," he said bluntly, coming to a stop and turning so we were facing the ocean. His gaze trailed down to the ground in front of him, a sigh slipping past his lips. "Sometimes my dad even blames himself for the accident since he was the one who bought me the car." So it was a car accident that left him like this? Fuck, it was like the universe was punishing him or something just because I saved his dad from a car crash. "I think logically he knows it's not it's fault, it's the prick's who cut me off."

"That's insane," I breathed, the guilt in my stomach growing a little. "Fuck, I swear I will totally beat that guy's ass for you."

"Christ," he snorted, shaking his head a little and smiling up at me. "Nice to see you haven't changed," he said, before sighing and staring off at the ocean again. "Don't worry about it, though, okay? Anyway, I think my parents are just glad that I'm still here, really. I could have ended up like that kid from Rose High and disappeared completely."

My eyes widened slightly, staring down at him for a few moments. "You mean Marco Bodt?" Christ, even in this universe he was missing. "Did you know him?"

"I honestly didn't even know his name until now," he mumbled, shifting his gaze up to the sky. "It must be so awful for his friends and family. If someone I was close to just disappeared without a trace, I don't know what I'd do."

"You'd get through it," I said quickly, hoping that the words were actually true. 

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah, because clearly, I handle shitty situations so well."

"You seem to be handling your, uh, situation well."

"You haven't seen me on a normal day," he sighed, staring down at the ground and shaking his head a bit. "Seriously, I'm usually the worst person you could be around."

"I think I can handle it," I assured, and he just gave me a doubtful look in response. I stayed silent for a moment, moving my gaze to stare at the ocean as I tried to think of something to say. "Do you remember when we were kids, and we'd always have movie nights together?"

"And you'd always want to watch High School Musical? Yeah, I remember," he said, laughing a little. "Fuck, I can't believe there was ever a moment where I thought you were straight."

"Oh, says the one who had a crush on Zak Effron," I retorted, laughing a little myself at the memory. "Hey, we should watch a movie or something tonight."

"We are not watching High School Musical."

"I never suggested it," I said, staring up at the sky in thought, humming softly. " What about that zombie movie you used to love?"

"Shaun of the Dead?"

"Yeah! You used to love that damn film. We can watch it together tonight. It'll be just like old times."

"That sounds great," he smiled, biting down on his lip as he hesitantly glanced up at me. "You, uh- you really don't mind staying over?"

"Dude, you're my best friend. Why the hell would I not want to hang out with you?"

"Do you really want me to answer why I'd think that?"

I raised my hands defensively. "Okay, okay, I know. I'm sorry for not visiting-"

"Or calling, or texting, or sending a letter more than once every four months."

"And I'm sorry. Really, I know, I'm a shitty friend, but I'm back now, okay? I swear I'm not leaving you again," I said, staring down at him, nervously waiting for a response.

"Thanks," he mumbled after a few moments silence, staring downward for a few moments before sighing, offering a weak smile as he looked up at me. "Let's go back to my place then."

~

Jean's bedroom had been moved to the garage downstairs since he couldn't exactly go upstairs anymore. It was a pretty nice room, definitely a lot tidier than the other Jean's bedroom. There was also, as expected, a noticeable lack of band posters on his walls. It was kind of weird seeing Jean past puberty without any of his punk shit.

In the centre of the room was his bed, that reminded me of the ones you see in a hospital, which was facing a TV which hung on the wall opposite. On one side of the bed was a ventilator, which he had to use just to be able to breathe, and on the other side was an IV. In the corner of the room was a large desk with a computer on it, and a microphone in front of that. It was nice to see that he could actually still use the computer with voice command, even though I was sure all the tech must have cost a fortune.

"The DVD should be in one of the drawers there," Jean said, nodding his head at the set of drawers underneath the TV. I gave a small nod, going over and searching through the drawers for the film we wanted. It didn't take me too long to find, and I hummed softly as I put it in the DVD player before looking back over at Jean.

He looked away the second our eyes met, biting down on his lip before reluctantly looking up again. "I, uh- fuck I hate this," he muttered, taking a breath before continuing. "I , like, need help getting into bed and sorting out my morphine and shit," he mumbled, looking away again as he finished speaking, clearly hating that he had to ask for help with everything.

"Oh, right. Uh, you gotta tell me if I fuck up , though," I said nervously, going over to him. I let him direct me as I got him in bed and sorted out his ventilator and IV, making sure to double check with him every time I did something to make sure I got it right. Once he was sorted, I moved his wheelchair off to the side and grabbed a wooden chair for myself. I sat down beside him, grabbing the remote and offering a smile as I started up the movie.

Sometime during the following ninety minutes I ended up falling asleep, my head resting on the edge of Jean's bed as I did. When I woke up I had to take a few moments just to remember where I was, rubbing at my eyes and groaning quietly.

"Morning, Eren," Jean said, his voice reminding me of everything that had happened.

I looked over at him, meeting his grin with a faint smile of my own. "Morning," I murmured, rubbing the nape of my neck and sitting up straight in my seat. "Have you, uh, been up long?"

"Not really," he said, rolling his eyes when I gave him a doubtful look. "Seriously, I haven't been awake too long."

"If you say so," I sighed, slumping back in my seat. "Were you okay then? Whilst I was sleeping, I mean."

"I was fine, dude. You don't have to worry about anything, I've already got my parents for that," he assured, sighing softly. "Seriously. My ma came to check on me like five times this morning, even though I keep telling her it's not necessary."

"That's just 'cause she loves you, man."

"I know. Honestly, she does so much for me, and my dad does too. It's just- fuck, they never have any time for themselves anymore and they're always working or taking care of me. The entire situation has been so hard on them and I'm just costing them so much money and I know they can't afford it-"

"Jean, calm down," I said softly, interrupting his rambles. "I know it's hard on them but they can manage it. They know it's worth it because it's for you."

"I just-" he cut himself off, staring downward and sighing. "Never mind. I guess you're right," he mumbled, chewing on his lip for a few moments before looking up at me again and smiling weakly. "Anyway, we've been talking about me since yesterday. Are you doing okay? I mean with moving and school and everything."

"I'm doing good," I nodded, leaning forward in my seat a little. "School is alright I guess. I mean, it's really cool that I get to be taught by a famous photographer."

"It sounds it. I bet you're gonna end up being more famous than him, though I'll doubt you'll come back to teach a bunch of kids."

"God, no, I'd be awful at teaching," I chuckled.

"Best just stick to taking photos, then," he smiled. "Hey, do you remember how my ma used to always take photos of us together?"

"Of course, I do. How could I forget? She loved putting them all in that massive photo album," I said, before realising that the photo I used to change everything should still be in the photo album in this universe. Maybe I could go back and change things to how they were before... "Do you still have it?"

"The album? Uh, yeah, it should be on one of those shelves," he said, watching as I went over to get it. "I haven't seen the photos in ages."

"I bet your ma looks at them every day," I chuckled, going back to sit beside him and placing the album in his lap. "Awh, Jeanie, she even has photos of you as a baby!" I grinned, pointing to the photos on the first page. "And you're in the bathtub too!"

"Fuck, you are so lucky I can't punch you right now," he said, chuckling a little as he stared down at the photos. 

"You were so cute, though," I smiled, turning the pages every so often as we looked at all the photos. I let out a shaky breath when we reached the page that had the photo of me and Jean with cake mix on our faces, a few moments of silence following before Jean spoke. 

"Eren," he started, the serious tone he had making me worried as I met his gaze. "You know we'll always be friends, right? And that these past fourteen hours or so have probably been the best time I've had since before the accident."

I furrowed my brows a little, shifting in my seat so I was facing him properly. "Dude, you're scaring me a little. What are you getting at?"

"I meant it when I said my parents really can't afford any of the bills for anything, and you should know that my respiratory system is failing and it's only going to get worse," he said, glancing away again and biting down on his lip, giving a shaky breath before he spoke again. "I can't stand living like this anymore, Eren. I've already said goodbye to my parents but neither of them will do as I ask and..." he trailed off, letting out another sigh. "Do you understand what I'm getting at?" 

I bit down on my lower lip. Did he really want me to... Fuck, I didn't even want to think it. I had already fucked up Jean's life enough, I didn't want to pile the guilt up even more by taking his life away completely. "Jean, I can't do that," I said quietly, my voice shaking slightly as I spoke. "I can't just- fuck, Jean, I can't do that."

"Eren, please. All you have to do is crank the IV up to eleven and that's it," he said, his eyes wide and pleading. I put my head in my hands, taking a deep breath as I slouched over and tried to think everything through. "Eren-"

"Just give me a moment."

Fuck, there was nothing I wanted to do less than what he was asking me to do but... I knew it was what Jean wanted, I could practically see the desperation in his eyes, and it wasn't like I was really saying goodbye to him forever. I could just honour this Jean's wishes and then go back and make things the way they were before. If I did this for him then at least there was one time where I didn't bail on him.

I took a deep breath, moving my hands from my face and sitting up to face him. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

I gave a small nod, swallowing thickly before standing up and going over to the IV to do what he wanted, my hands shaking throughout. 

"Thank you," he breathed, offering a faint smile as I kneeled down by his bed. "You're such a good friend."

"I'll miss you," I whispered quietly, watching as his eyes slowly fluttered shut and his head fell to the side to rest on the pillow. I bit down on my lip so hard it drew blood, desperately trying to keep my breathing steady as I reminded myself that I would see Jean alive again in just a few moments.

With my body still shaking slightly, I reached forward, pulling the photo I needed out of the album and holding it in both hands. After only a few moments of concentrating on the image, I was brought back in time again, being greeted with the flash of the camera similarly to how I had been before. 

I didn't intervene this time, of course. Instead, I leant back against the wall, breathing deeply and trying to forgive myself for letting Hannes walk out the door even though I knew it was basically letting him walk out to his death. I forced on a smile when Jean asked me if I was okay, relieved when he didn't question me any further and just dragged me to the television to play video games with him.

The next thing I knew I was back in my original future. My eyes widened at first, quickly scanning the area with my heart beating rapidly in my chest before I realised I was by the wall again. I let out a shaky breath, sliding back against the bricks to sit on the ground. The photo I had of me and Jean was still being held loosely in my right hand, and I couldn't hold any emotions back as I glanced down to look at it.

"Fuck," I whimpered, my breathing deepening as I ripped the photo up. Why couldn't I do something right for once? I abandoned Jean in this universe and then I ended up being the reason he was paralysed and to top it all off I fucking killed him. What if my powers had stopped working again? HIs parents would have been crushed and I would be known as a god damn murderer.

I let out a frustrated cry, throwing the torn up photo off to the side before pulling my knees up to my chest and burying my face between them. My hands dragged through my hair, tugging harshly at each strand as I gave in and allowed myself to start crying. 

Even after everything I had put Jean through, I had still told him to stop feeling sorry for himself. Ever since I had moved away there had not been one single moment where I had truly been there for him and yet I still got mad at him for being upset over it. What kind of friend was I? God, Jean deserved so much better than-

"Eren? Eren!"

I snapped my head up when I registered Jean's voice, unsure how long he had been there since it felt like he had just magically appeared crouched down in front of me with his hands shaking at my shoulders. His eyes were wide with worry and before he had a chance to say anything, I threw my arms around him, burying my face in his neck and blurting out everything on my mind.

"I'm sorry," I whimpered, holding him tighter as I felt his arms wrap slowly around me. "I'm sorry for leaving you and I'm sorry for not staying in touch. You have every right to be mad at me and I'm so sorry for arguing with you because you were right. I don't know anything and I'm such a shitty friend and I'm so fucking sorry for not being there for you-"

"It's okay, Eren," he said softly, gently running his hand through my hair in an attempt to calm me down. 

"It's not okay, though, and I tried to make it okay but I just fucked it up even more and- fuck, Jean, I wanted to save him but it all went wrong and-"

"Eren," he interrupted, pulling back a little so he could look me in the eye. "Calm down. What are you even talking about?"

"I- I tried to save your dad," I said quietly, not really crying anymore though my breathing was still heavy. 

Jean's eyes widened slightly at that, his expression becoming unreadable as he looked me over. "You... How?"

"I found out I can go back in time using photos," I answered, glancing down at the shredded pieces on the floor. "I managed to save him but when I got back to the future I found out that you had ended up being in a car accident. You were paralysed from the neck down and you ended up asking me to... to... Fuck, I don't want to say it."

"You don't have to," he said calmly, reaching down and holding onto one of my hands. "I'm sorry I had to ask you to do that," he whispered, pulling me into a hug and holding me close. "Thank you for trying to save him, though."

"I just wanted you to be happy again," I whimpered, my nails digging into his jacket. "I just want you to be okay again."

"You don't have to worry about me, Eren," he whispered, slipping his arms around my waist and pulling me in for a kiss. "I'll be fine as long as you're with me," he mumbled against my lips, slowly managing to calm me down as he kissed me. "We'll both be okay as long as we're together," he assured, and it was all I could do to nod weakly in response as I kissed him back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I accidentally deleted most of this chapter this morning and had to spend all day typing it up from memory.  
> On another note, I will now be making sure to back up everything I write.


	12. Searching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean and Eren are determined to find Marco Bodt, but to do so they're going to have to find some more evidence to help them out.

Thankfully, Jean was able to drop the subject of what happened in the alternate reality. He was able to calm me down and then, after convincing me that we both deserved a break from everything, he drove me back to his place. We ended up hanging out in his bedroom all day, both thankful that Nile had already left and his mother was at work. We didn’t do anything special, at least nothing that would be considered special by anyone else, just played video games and watched movies.

And, God, did it feel good to be able to hang out with him like that again.

By the end of the day, my mind was almost completely free of any of the shit that had happened recently. I say almost because, well, it was pretty difficult to forget completely. Distractions worked wonders, yes, but in the short seconds between conversations and before the start of a new game of Super Smash Brawl, it was easy for thoughts to come flooding back into my mind.

Still, I was truly grateful for those distractions. I hadn’t really thought about it when I was blurting it all out, but hearing that there was a way that someone could go back to save your dad but at the cost of you becoming paralysed was, well, a pretty shitty thing to hear. And, yet, Jean still pushed any feeling or questions about it away, just to be able to give me the pleasure of ignoring it all for the day.

I really did owe him for that.

Honestly, I owed him for a lot more than that.

We ended up calling it a day at around eleven at night, neither of us having realised it had gotten so late. I was beyond relieved to be able to spend yet another night at Jean’s place, especially now that we were… Well, there wasn’t exactly an official title to it yet, so I’d guess I’d just say that we were now just open with our feelings about each other? I honestly didn’t care too much about being ‘official’ or anything as long as long as there was /something/ between us but, well, it would be nice to know for sure.

After getting changed into a clean t-shirt and pair of boxers that Jean let me borrow, I slipped into bed, my eyes trained on Jean as he turned off the light before coming over to lay beside me.

“Do you always sleep shirtless?” I asked, grinning faintly at him as I shuffled over to wrap an arm around his bare waist.

He shrugged, shifting over slightly so he was lying on his back. “Are you complaining?”

“I’m pretty sure you know I’m not,” I said, barely able to see the smirk that his lips curled up into but still knowing it was there. Humming softly, I curled up a little closer, drowsiness easily starting to overcome me as I closed my eyes. “Thanks for taking my mind off everything,” I mumbled sleepily. “I’m sorry for making you mad.”

“It’s fine. I was mostly just mad because of Marco,” he whispered, slipping an arm around me. “I still want to find him, though, Eren. I still-“ he sighed. “I still miss him.”

“I know. We’ll find him,” I mumbled, barely even managing to get it all out in my sleepy state. I didn’t know what, if anything, he said in response, as I had already slipped into sleep.

~

Morning came around all too quickly, the sunlight that spilt in from the windows causing me to squint as my eyes fluttered open. I groaned tiredly, shuffling around for a moment as I tried to find the body that should have been sleeping beside me.

I whined out his name when I couldn’t find him, my fingers dragging through my hair as I shut my eyes again to avoid the harsh light. Straight after, I heard a short laugh coming from somewhere on the other side of the room, to which I reluctantly sat up so I could look over at its source.

Jean was sitting at the desk in front of his window, his old laptop sitting open on top of it. He was already dressed in his usual outfit, a slight grin showing on his face as he stared over at me. I smiled tiredly in return, still not fully awake yet as I glanced around the room. My brows furrowed slightly when I spotted a large piece of cardboard propped up against his wall, with photos and other pieces of paper stuck to it.

“What’s that?” I questioned, already getting up and walking over to get a better look. Jean made his way over to stand beside me, both of us staring down at the board.

“It’s how we’re going to find Marco.”

I gave a small nod, deciding not to show off any doubts I had of us actually finding him. The board had photos and papers stuck to it from the principal’s office and Nile’s files. There was also the account book that we had taken from Reiner, as well as some other items I didn’t quite recognise.

“Where did you find these?” I asked, picking up one of the unfamiliar photos from the board. There were several new photos, each with a time and place wrote down on them. There were some of Krista, Oluo, the number plates of some cars... There were even photos of when Oluo was screaming at me in the parking lot on Monday. As well as the photos, there was a sheet of paper with a list of coordinates on it.

“I found them in the garage. Now that Nile is gone I figured I could go get that file and, well, I ended up finding these whilst I was down there too.”

“You know, as much of an asshole he is, these could really help us out,” I said, sticking the photo back down on the board.

“Yeah, well, I think we need to get some more info on Oluo before we can do anything.”

“His phone would be our best shot, really. Maybe then we could find out what the hell he’s been doing at these parties he’s been throwing. Actually, I know he’s throwing one tonight…”

“We could always check out his dorm room when he’s not there,” Jean suggested, going over to his closet and searching through his clothes.

“Sounds good to me,” I said, walking over to sit on the edge of his bed. I glanced down at my bag when I heard my phone go off, a sigh slipping past my lips as I heard it.

“You’ve been getting a lot of texts this morning,” he said, turning around to face me. “You were getting them yesterday, too. Aren’t you gonna check any of them?”

“I honestly haven’t really been checking my phone all that much since Tuesday. I really don’t want to have to deal with random students and my family go on about it and asking if I’m okay.”

“Fair enough,” he mumbled, turning back around to continue searching through his clothes. “I still think you should check them, though. People might be worried about you. Plus, it could be Krista letting you know how she’s doing.”

“Fuck, you’re right,” I sighed, reaching over to grab my phone from my pocket. I scrolled through the texts, not bothering to give a second glance to most of them. I sent quick responses to the texts from my parents, letting them know that I was okay and that they didn’t need to worry so much. I bit down on my lip when I saw that, yes, I had gotten a couple of texts from Krista. She had actually sent them yesterday, which only made me feel more guilty for not responding.

The first text was her apologising for what happened and thanking me for being there for her, and the second text was her apologising again and her saying that she understood why I wasn’t checking my phone as she had talked to Armin about me.

Well, thank fuck for Armin.

‘Hey! I’m sorry I took so long to respond. How are you doing?’ -E

She replied almost immediately so, much to my relief, I could only guess she didn’t completely hate me for replying so late.

‘I’m doing a lot better thanks to you :) Do you want to come visit sometime today? I’d love to see you again’ -K

“Do you know if she’s doing any better, then?”

I gave a small nod in response to Jean’s question, my gaze still glued down onto the phone screen. “She wants me to come visit her.”

He hummed softly before dropping something onto the bed beside me. I glanced over, finding a pile of clothes, before looking up at Jean and raising my brow.

“You should probably get dressed. We can go visit your friend and then head to school to look through Oluo’s shit.”

“You sure you don’t mind waiting for me at the hospital?”

Jean rolled his eyes. “Come on. I know I’m an asshole but I’m not that much of an asshole,” he told me, walking over to the other side of the bed to grab his leather jacket. “I don’t mind.”

“Thanks,” I breathed, quickly texting Krista to tell her that I’d be there shortly, then grabbing the clothes Jean had given me so I could get dressed.

The clothes he had given me were black skinny jeans (which seemed to be the only bottoms he had) and a dark olive t-shirt. It didn’t exactly seem like the type of thing Jean would wear, but I decided there was no point in bringing up whether or not the shirt had been his or Marco’s.

I made sure to grab my backpack before leaving with Jean, the drive to the hospital thankfully not taking too long. When we finally found Krista’s room, Jean wrapped his arms around me and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips. He told me to take my time, to which I gave a small nod before turning to enter the room, pushing the door slowly open.

Krista was sitting on one of the two chair placed by her bed when I entered, her lips turning up into a smile as she saw me. She stood up straight away, walking over and greeting me with a hug.

“Eren! I’m so glad you came to visit,” she smiled, pulling back as she spoke.

“I’m glad to be here. How are you feeling after everything?”

“I’m feeling better,” she said, her smile fading slightly as she glanced downward. “I am really sorry for putting you through that, though. I know that wasn’t fair to you,” she mumbled quietly, glancing off to the side before returning her gaze to me and speaking again before I could respond. “Everyone is being so nice to me now. The students from school have been sending cards and flowers and balloons - even Petra sent a card,” she smiled, going over to sit on the edge of the hospital bed and picking up some of the cards she had mentioned.

It all really made me feel kind of ill. Why couldn’t anyone have been this nice to her before any of this? I guess I couldn’t really say anything, though. I hadn’t even thought to text her or try to find out how she was doing since the last time I had seen her - and that after what had happened.

“The nurses say I should be able to leave on Friday when my dad comes to see me,” she said, looking up at me with a smile. It really was nice to see her smiling again

“That’s great,” I smiled, walking over to sit beside her on the bed.

“I know. My dad has really been the only supportive one in my family since that video was posted,” she said, her voice cracking slightly at the end and her gaze dropping down to her lap.

I offered a supportive smile, reaching over to hold onto one of her hands. “Don’t worry too much about the video- or Oluo, for that matter. I was actually able to get him suspended the other day,” I said, pausing for a moment as I decided whether or not to carry on. “I’m actually going to his dorm today to see if I can find any evidence for you.”

She smiled a little at that, which was a relief, really. “Thank you.” She squeezed my hand, her expression turning to one of worry. “You’ll be careful, though, right? I hope he doesn’t catch you.”

“Don’t worry about that. My, uh, friend is coming with me so I’ll be fine,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

“Oh! Are you talking about your boyfriend?”

“My what?” I said quickly, my hand flinching back as I stared at her with a look of shock on my face. She just gave a quiet laugh in response, leaving me to stare at her in confusion for another few moments before finally speaking up.

“Armin told me he saw you with some guy.”

“Of course,” I mumbled, a sigh slipping past my lips. It wasn’t that Jean and I were a secret or anything, it’s just I didn’t expect anyone to find out so quick.

“Does that mean it’s true, then? You have a boyfriend?”

“Not really. I mean, I hope so,” I said, smiling a little down at her. “I guess it’s not exactly official yet.”

“You should talk to him about it. I bet you’d be really cute together.”

“Well, you’ll be the first to know what happens if I do talk to him about it,” I said, smiling a little as I gave her a hug. “It was really nice seeing you again. I should probably head over to school soon.”

“It was nice seeing you too,” she said, hugging me back for a moment before pulling away. “Be careful.”

“I will be,” I assured, offering a final smile before leaving the room to meet Jean in the hallway. He reached out for my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze, before walking me back out to his car.

Once we reached the school campus, Jean and I made our way straight over to the boy’s dorm rooms. I paused when we reached Oluo’s dorm room, quickly grabbing Jean’s wrist before he could open the door.

“What if he’s in there?” I asked, my voice coming out as a quiet whisper.

Jean just shrugged. “What’s he gonna do? Besides, you can just rewind if anything goes wrong, can’t you?”

“Not if my power stops working like it did before!”

“Jesus. Chill, man. It’ll be fine,” he said, tugging his hand away and reaching forward to open the door.

It didn’t budge.

“Of course, he keeps it locked," I sighed. "At least we know he’s not in there, though, so-“ I cut myself off when Jean yanked the fire extinguisher from the wall and started hitting at the door handle “Dude! What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to get us caught?”

“I really don’t care at this point, Eren.” He mumbled, dropping the fire extinguisher to the floor before pushing the door open. “I just want to find Marco.”

I sighed softly, not saying anything as I followed him inside and closed the door behind us.

Oluo’s room was, well, dark - both literally and in a fucked-up sense. The only colours found in the room were blacks, greys, and whites. His walls were mostly covered in framed photos of his own (mildly disturbing) work because God forbid he look up to anyone but his own self.

Well, actually, there was one person who he seemed to look up to. Scattered on his desks and shelves were pamphlets and photos from Levi Ackerman’s art shows. I guess if there's anyone you should look up to, it's your teacher. It would make class a little more bearable. 

I started looking through the set of drawers by the door whilst Jean searched through some stuff in the back. There didn’t seem to be anything of interest at first, just a bunch of folded up clothes and crazily expensive camera equipment, but I froze when I reached the bottom drawer.

Sitting on top of a pile of shirts was a photo of Jean, his body curled up into a ball as he lay on the floor on his side.

It made me feel sick to look at, and yet I still picked it up to stare at it for even longer. He just looked so helpless and out of it. It must have been so awful for him.

“Of course the crazy fucker has to take pills for it. Shame they don’t seem to be working,” Jean muttered, holding up a bottle of prescribed medication before putting it back down and looking my way. “What’s that?”

“Huh?” I flicked my gaze between him and the photo, quickly pulling it down to my side after. “Uh, nothing,” I blurted out, not wanting him to see it. “It’s nothing.”

Jean just rolled his eyes. “You know you’re a shitty liar, right?” He made his way over to me, holding his hand out for the photo. “Come on, let me see it.”

I stared down at his hand for a few moments before giving a sigh of defeat, knowing that he wasn’t going to give up on it. I handed him the photo, watching as his eyes widened slightly upon looking at it. For a moment he looked completely taken aback, possibly even hurt, but then he just looked pissed.

“Asshole,” he muttered, scrunching the photo up in his hand and stuffing it in his pocket. “I swear if he did anything like that to Marco-”

“Let’s just keep looking,” I said softly, purposefully trying to avoid thinking of what could have happened to him. I moved past Jean and started searching through the drawers of the bedside table. There were some old art gallery pamphlets, scrunched up pieces of paper, some spare lens covers… God, there was no way we were going to be able to find something useful

“Hey, Eren, check this out.”

When I turned around, I saw Jean crouched down by the small couch and running his fingers along the wooden flooring. I raised a brow, not quite understanding what I was supposed to be looking at.

“There are scratch marks on the floor.”

“And your point is…?”

Jean just rolled his eyes as he stood up. “The marks are from the couch, dumbass,” he muttered, and I only realised what he was getting at once he started pulling the corner of the sofa away from the wall. He bent down behind it for a moment before standing up again, a smug grin spread across his face as he held up a small plastic bag containing a phone and some scraps of paper.

“You fucking smartass,” I said, a small grin of my own tugging at the corners of my lips. I reached forward, taking the bag from him and looking down at it in slight disbelief. Maybe it was possible that we could find Marco. Jean definitely deserved it. “Come on,” I said, shoving the bag in my backpack as Jean moved the sofa back into place. “We should get going before anyone notices we were here.”

He gave a short nod and we both left the room, relieved to find that the hallway was empty. We made our way outside and started heading back to his car.

“Do you still have the money we took in your bag?”

“Uh, yeah,” I answered, glancing up at him and raising a brow. “Why?”

He shrugged. “I think we should go see Reiner. We need to find out who all those clients in his account book are and since they’re in code, the only way we can do that is by asking him. There’s no way he’s gonna talk if he doesn’t get his money, though.”

“You sure you’re up for that?" I asked, quickly explaining what I meant when he just glared at me in response. "I mean, I don’t want you getting angry with him and ending up getting in a fight.”

“I think I know how to control myself,” he muttered, looking away from me and pulling his phone out from his pocket. “It’ll be fine.”

I decided to hold back any comments on how he, in fact, was not the best at controlling himself. I didn’t think he’d start any physical fights or anything, it was just that he had a tendency to blurt out whatever he’s thinking whilst in an argument.

Still, I had to believe that it would be fine. If anything went wrong, I could use me rewind - that is, as long as it didn’t suddenly stop working like it had with Christa. Fuck, I really hoped it would be fine.

“Okay, okay,” I sighed. “Let’s go, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long to post. I've been dealing with some personal issues and school has just started again so I can't guarantee weekly updates anymore. Still, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	13. Connections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean and Eren finally seem to be getting somewhere with their search for information on Marco's disappearance. The difficulty lies in connecting everything together.

When we finally got to Reiner's, I swore my heart was going so fast it was going to beat right out of my chest. It was the first time I was seeing where he actually parked his RV when he wasn't eating at Scouts, and I couldn't tell if the area made me more nervous or a little more relaxed. It was in a small parking lot at the beach and, looking around, we were the only ones there. Reiner probably wouldn't have hesitated much to hurt us if there were people around, so it didn't exactly feel safe to be there alone.

Trying to shake any worries from my mind, I walked over to join Jean at the door to the recreational vehicle. Jean glanced over at me and I gave a short nod in return, silently telling him to go ahead and knock on the door. Reiner answered almost immediately, a scowl forming on his face when he saw me.

"Do you two not go anywhere on your own?" He commented harshly, closing the door behind him as he got out, focusing on Jean. "Well? Have you got my money?"

"We want answers first," Jean said, showing no fear as he took a step closer to him.

"You'll be getting a fucking blade to your neck if I don't get my money-"

"Jean, just give it to him," I cut in, not wanting to have to deal with any injuries. I didn't doubt that what Reiner said was true.

Jean gave me a glare, clearly not happy that I gave in so easily. Even so, he took a step back, reaching into his jacket to pull out the envelope of money. He had made sure to take out what we would keep beforehand, of course.

Reiner grabbed it from him as soon as he saw it, opening it up a little to check that the amount fitted what Jean owed him. He glanced up, then, giving a short nod before turning to go back into his RV. I called out before he could open the door, though.

"Wait! We still need some answers from you."

He turned back to look at me, his brows raised slightly. He looked like he was about to go back to opening the door but he stopped when Jean spoke up.

"It's about Marco."

There was a pause, then, where none of us spoke or made any movement. After a few short moments, Reiner slowly moved his hand away from the handle, leaning back against the door and folding his arms. "What about him?"

"We're trying to figure out what happened to him," I explained, doing my best to sound calm. "That's why we need you to-"

"To what?" He interrupted. "What could I possibly know that will help you figure out where Marco has been hiding for the past five months?" He shook his head a little. "You two are in way over your heads."

"Hey, unlike you, we're actually trying to do something about this," Jean snapped, taking a step towards him. "Just because you didn't care about him-"

"I cared way more about him than you ever did," he snapped back, moving forward as well. They were both glaring down at each other, looking as though they could snap and start throwing punches at any second.

Jean closed the gap between them, his hands formed into fists down by his sides. "Bullshit! No one cared more about him than me."

Reiner rolled his eyes, clearly disbelieving. "I loved him," he said, his voice still strong but more calmed down. I barely had the time to think about what he had said before Jean was shouting back at him.

"And I was in love with him."

Another pause - a silence filled only by Jean's heavy breathing as the two continued to stare each other down. I tried not to let his words bother me but I really couldn't help it. Yet again, I was jealous of something that shouldn't even be bothering me. The whole Marco situation deserved far more attention and respect than simply me getting jealous every other minute.

I took a small step forward, hoping that they'd just calm down. If something were to go wrong, I couldn't be sure that I would have my powers to rely on. "Okay, you both cared deeply about him, no one here is doubting that," I said, flicking my gaze between them. They were still staring each other down. "That's why we need to find out what happened and why we need you to help us out," I added, turning my attention to Reiner.

There were another few moments of silence before the blonde finally moved back to lean against his door, his arms returning to their folded position. "Alright. What do you want to know?"

"The names of all of your clients."

"And their matching nicknames or whatever the fuck you call them," Jean added.

He shifted his gaze between us and, for a moment, I was worried that he was going to question how we knew that he had code names for his clients. Thankfully, he just sighed before pulling a crumpled receipt from his pocket and asking for a pen.

After quickly scribbling down all the names, he handed me back the pen and paper. "You better tell me the moment you find anything," he said, turning to go back inside his RV. He seemed to hesitate slightly before adding, "good luck."

~

Once we finally got back to Jean's place, he immediately taped everything we had gathered to the cardboard on the side of his room. In all honesty, the entire thing just looked like one massive blur to me. It felt like when you've been given a test in school but you have no idea what the questions are even asking for.

Luckily, Jean seemed to actually know what he was doing and started re-reading over everything we had found. "None of the information here dates back anywhere near as close as when Marco left but..." he trailed off for a moment, grabbing Reiner's client book and flicking through the pages. "I think we might be able to find out what happened to your friend at that party. I'm sure that Oluo guy is connected to Marco in some way, too, so it'll be like killing two birds with one stone."

"Right," I said slowly, giving a short nod as I returned my attention to the board. Unsure on what else to do, I pulled Oluo's phone from the plastic bag, sighing when I saw that it was password protected.

"Figures," Jean murmured, leaning over my shoulder to look down at the screen. "Okay, you look to see if you can find the passcode anywhere and I'll look over the rest of the info."

"Sure," I said, grabbing the scraps of paper that had also been in the bag and going over to sit on the edge of Jean's bed. I didn't really expect to find the passcode written anywhere on them but, luckily for us, Oluo seemed to have a tendency of making scribbles everywhere.

There were a few drawings on the papers, which reminded me a little of the scribbled mess that Jean and I had found on the principal's computer before. There were many different numbers written down, too, but most of them were too long or short to fit the required length of the passcode for the phone.

It didn't actually take too long to find the right one. I was kind of concerned at first, as the phone was set to lock after three failed attempts, but I realised that wasn't exactly a problem for me. After all, I could (and I did have to) rewind to before I had hit the limit.

Jean was still busy searching through everything else, so I decided to look through the phone by myself first.

There was a hell of a lot of texts between Oluo and who I could only assume to be Reiner. Even after reading through all of them, I couldn't really figure out how they could be relevant in any way, so I gave in and brought the phone over to Jean.

It didn't take him long to read over the messages and, once he had, he nodded a little. "This is good," he said, moving over to a section of the board where he had separated some of the information. My confusion must have been clear because he soon started explaining his thought process to me.

"We know the date of that party, so we can find out what exactly he was talking to Reiner about on that day," he said, his brows furrowing together a moment in concentration. He turned to one of the pages in the client book, nodding along with his thoughts. "See, the dates match up with the party, the text and this," he said, handing the book over to me.

"Okay," I said, glancing over the words before looking back up at Jean again. "So how does this help us?"

"Just hold on a second," he said, waving his hand at me in dismissal. It wasn't long before his lips were turning up into a faint grin and he was tugging another piece of paper off the board. "Okay, as much as I hate Nile and his creepy-ass tendencies, this is seriously useful."

He handed me over a photo of an old farmhouse with some times, dates and coordinates written on the back of it. I chewed lightly on my lower lip, still not exactly sure what we were supposed to do with this information. "Is it useful?"

"Yes," he assured, grabbing my hand and pulling me over to his desk. He opened up his laptop, starting to search through some sites. I was about ready to accept defeat when he shook my arm to grab my attention. "Read out the owner's name to me."

I rolled my eyes but leaned down so I could comply. "David Allen..." I paused when I read the third name, before slowly saying it aloud. "Bozado."

"Oluo's father," Jean added.

I dragged my fingers through my hair, taking a deep breath as I read the name again and again. This was actually happening; we were actually getting somewhere with all of this.

"Okay," I said, nodding a little as I looked up at Jean. "Let's go check it out."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been SO long since I updated this I'm so sorry oh my. I kind of lost motivation for it but I really do want to finish this because I've had the ending half-written before I even wrote the first chapter!
> 
> Also, shout out to Alex (who will probably be reading this on Wattpad and so will never see this shout out anyway)<3


	14. Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean and Eren finally find the answers that they've been looking for. The question is, were they simply better off not knowing?

You’d think that at least one of us would have stumbled across this farmhouse before, given that we’d spent most of our lives in this town. However, even though it was only around twenty minutes away from Jean’s place, it was very clearly isolated from the town itself. 

The wooden building was old and battered and looked like it hadn’t been used in years. Part of me thought that must mean that our lead was wrong and that we were just grasping at something that wasn’t even there. Another part of me, though, thought that it made it all the more of a perfect place for Oluo to do whatever it was he had been doing. Either way, it was still worth checking out.

Besides, there was no way Jean was going to let this go.

He started searching the area as soon as he had gotten out of the car. The doors to the farmhouse were closed shut with a lock holding them together. If it were to come to it, we probably could have easily made it inside by breaking a hole in the walls. Thankfully, though, that didn’t seem to be necessary.

I couldn’t tell if it was intentional or not. Maybe Oluo had done it for easier access, or maybe it was simply because the building was old and weak, but there was a gap around the back of the house already. It was large enough for me and Jean to go through, giving us free entrance to the inside.

Unsurprisingly, the interior was about just as beaten down as the exterior. It was mostly just filled with stacks of hay and some wooden barrels. There were a few crates scattered around, too, but nothing that seemed too out of the ordinary.

“So, you think this place could be connected to everything somehow?” I asked, glancing around as I walked inside. 

“I think it’s possible this is where Oluo really took your friend after that party. Maybe he took Marco here, too,” he mumbled, before furrowing his brows together slightly. I followed him over to the main doors, watching as he crouched down. “Either way, someone has definitely been here. There are tire tracks on the floor.”

I looked down, noting that there were, indeed, tire tracks. It was definitely intriguing, to say the least. If the Bozado’s were still using this place, then you’d think that they’d do it up a little. It wasn’t like they didn’t have the money for it.

“Maybe this is where he comes to do drug deals,” I suggested.

“No. Reiner doesn’t care enough to travel all the way out here for a deal,” he said, standing up straight again and continuing to walk around the area. “Anyway, don't you remember those texts? Most of them mentioned Oluo coming to Reiner whenever he wanted something.”

“I guess you’re right.” 

We continued surveying the area, then, but there really was nothing in plain sight to be found. It made no sense - why would Mr. Bozado need to own some farmhouse away from any residents? And why was someone coming here so recently?

If Jean was right about Oluo bringing Krista here after that party… God, I didn’t even want to think about what he might have done to her out here. There would have been no witnesses to it, that’s for sure.

“Holy fuck. Eren, you need to come check this out.”

I didn’t say anything as I made my way over to where Jean was standing. My eyes widened as soon as I saw what he had found, and I slowly crouched down to swipe some of the loose hay off to the side.

Hidden on the floor was a large metal hatch of some sorts. Similarly to the main doors, it had a large padlock keeping it shut. Though, unlike the rest of the property, it looked completely brand new. The family had probably spent a fortune on it, which, really, wasn’t any surprise. Still, it was odd that they’d kept it hidden all the way out here…

“What do you think is down there?”

Jean shrugged in response. “Only one way to find out.”

“Yeah but I don’t think we can exactly break in there,” I said, watching as he started searching around the place. “And I don’t think you can pick this lock, either.”

He turned around to face me. “Then we’ll find a key. I mean, come on, if Oluo is using this place then I wouldn’t exactly be surprised if he had hidden a spare somewhere here. He had the password for his phone written down in the same bag as the device, for Christ’s sake.”

I didn’t say anything in response, instead just helping him search. It wouldn’t do any good for me to voice my doubts of us finding one, especially not with Jean in the state he was in now. He was so close to finding answers, there was no way he’d give up now. He’d get them, one way or another, but I really wasn’t sure if it would do him any good. It wasn’t exactly likely that this would have a happy ending.

One thing was for sure, though. I had to stick with him on this - no matter what. Nothing was going to get me to leave Jean alone again.

We were probably searching for a solid ten minutes or so, struggling to find anything that was even as close to being as new as that damn padlock. Without a key, I really couldn’t think of any other way to open the hatch. 

Thankfully, we did end up finding one. I guess Jean was a lot smarter than I gave him credit for. Or, maybe he was just lucky. Though, given the circumstances, that didn’t exactly seem to be the appropriate word for him.

Then again, I was actually the one who found the key. I guess that made me the lucky one.

“I told you so,” Jean said when he saw that I had found it. He sounded almost smug about it, but I could sense his uneasiness. He probably knew, at least deep down, that the answers we were going to find weren’t going to be good ones. 

“Why’s it on a string like that?” I asked, watching as Jean went over to unlock the padlock. 

“How should I know? Maybe they did it so it could be hung up or something,” he shrugged, opening up the hatch before standing up straight again.

There were a set of steps leading down under the farmhouse, with a door right at the bottom. For a moment, neither of us moved or even said anything, just staring down to the bottom. Jean was the first to speak up, tugging at my hand to get me to look at him.

“I think we should keep a hold of this key. Even when we leave here,” he said, looking down at it for a moment before lifting his gaze again. He reaching up, not saying anything as he pulled the string down over my head, laying it on my neck like a necklace. “Don’t lose it, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He looked like he was going to say something else, then, but he didn’t. Instead, he just took my hand in his, taking a breath before making his way down the stairs.

Of course, we couldn’t expect to just get inside without running into another obstacle first. Just to the right of the metal door was a keypad, acting as yet another precaution for the Bozado’s and whatever they were hiding in that room. 

3 digits. There were 3 digits keeping us from knowing the truth.

Jean reached up, his hand hovering over the different buttons. He was quiet for a few moments, silently studying what was in front of him. To be honest, I didn’t know what there was that he could possibly be looking at.

“One, four, zero,” he said slowly, his hand still not moving. “Those are the numbers that appear to be more worn down. Luckily, there aren’t many combinations for just three numbers, so I guess-”

“It’s one, zero, four,” I interrupted, to which he raised a questioning brow at me. “That was one of the numbers he had scribbled down on those scraps of paper…”

He didn’t say anything as he typed in the code, the faintest of smiles forming on his lips when a green light lit up on the keypad. He still looked nervous.

“We’re like some sort of dream team,” he said, giving me a light nudge.

“Totally.” I offered him a small smile of my own, hoping that he’d find some sort of comfort in it. After taking a deep breath, I opened the door, my hand still holding onto Jean’s.

The first thing I noticed was how meticulous everything looked. There wasn’t an inch that looked unclean or dusty, and everything and anything was perfectly in place. There were large, metal shelves pressed up against the walls, each with canned food, water bottles and first aid kits stacked on top of them. It was like some kind of survival bunker.

“Well, at least we know a place we can go when the world ends tomorrow,” Jean murmured, looking around as he spoke. I was going to chastise him for joking about it but, really, he was probably being serious. Even if he wasn’t, it was still a decent idea. Anything would be better than standing out by that damn lighthouse again.

Uninterested by the Bozado’s apocalypse survival kit, I wandered over to a set of plastic curtains. They were set in the middle of a wall, appearing to separate this room from another.

My eyes widened slightly as I pulled back the curtain, though thankfully my change in expression was more so that I was impressed rather than scared. The entire other room was like a dream workplace of mine.

The first thing I noticed was the white backdrop off in the far left corner of the room. There was a set of lighting equipment on either side of it, as well as a couple of tripods. Off to the side was an enormous printer which looked to be almost as big as I was. There was also a coffee table and sofa facing the entire set, though that really wasn’t something that I could bring myself to care about.

On the right-hand side of the room, where you enter, was a large desk, currently only with a laptop sitting on it. Countless shelves and cupboards covered the sides of that section of the room, all looking just as neat and tidy as the ones in the room before it. The whole place probably cost more than I’d ever make in a lifetime.

We were both speechless at first, neither of us moving as we looked around the whole area. Jean was the first to get into action, letting go of my hand as he headed straight over to the laptop.

For once, there didn’t seem to be some sort of passcode standing between us and the Bozado’s secrets. As soon as Jean ran his finger over the trackpad, the screen lit up and his eyes widened in response.

He looked up, gesturing for me to come over to him. I almost didn’t move. His eyes were glossed over in a way where I couldn’t even tell if he was scared or angry or what. Still, I did as he asked and moved to join him at the desk.

His reaction made sense to me, then.

Displayed on the screen in front of us was a photoshop app with a photo of Krista being edited. Her hands and feet were tied up with duct tape, her knees pulled up to her chest as she lay on her side. Her eyes were open but it didn’t look like there was anybody actually there. She may as well have been unconscious.

“This is so fucked up,” I breathed, still staring down at the photo.

“If he did anything like this to Marco, I’ll fucking kill him,” Jean said, though it didn’t sound nearly as threatening with his voice shaking like it did. He sounded terrified.

I looked away, finding myself unable to look at the photo a moment longer. Jean stayed hunched over the laptop. I couldn’t tell if it was because he couldn’t bring himself to move or if he was searching through more files. Either way, I wasn’t about to turn around to check.

I instead found myself searching through the cupboards. The first one I opened didn’t seem to have much in it, only some more camera equipment and a few empty boxes. The next cupboard I opened, however, was a different story.

It was full, and I mean full, of ring binders, each with a different name on them. At first, I didn’t think too much of it. None of the names stood out to me so I figured there would be some normal explanation to it.

Then I saw the last three folders.

Marco, Krista, Petra.

Without saying a word, I grabbed all three of them, moving over to place them on the desk. The names were facing away from Jean but the folders were enough to grab his attention.

Petra’s was the first one that I opened. I’m not completely sure what I had expected but I didn’t think it was going to be empty. Maybe that was a good thing, though.

Krista’s was next. Unlike Petra’s, hers was completely full. Countless photos similar to the one we had seen on the laptop filled the binder, each with annotations critiquing the image. It was disgusting - they were treating this like some sort of fucking project. 

That just left one folder…

I couldn’t even look at Jean as I opened it, carefully moving the other files out of the way first. His breath hitched in his throat the moment we saw the inside. The folder was just as full as Krista’s, maybe even more so. The contents were similar, too.

The difference was that the photos hadn’t been taken here. Instead of a white backdrop, Marco was lying in the dirt, looking even more out of it than Krista had. In fact, it looked like he hadn’t been conscious at all.

The photos got worse as we turned the pages. More close-up shots started appearing, showing Marco’s face. The next set of photos showed someone - no, Oluo’s - hand holding onto Marco’s wrist. At first, I couldn’t tell why but then I realised that it looked like he was checking Marco’s pulse.

The next set of photos were even worse. Marco was still lying in the dirt but this time it was in a shallow hole, with a shovel shown in some of the shots on the surface. I could sense Jean holding his breath, both off us praying that it was all staged. No one else in the town had died or disappeared, so everyone else in those folders must still be alive. Marco shouldn’t be any different, he couldn’t be any different.

So then why was the final photo in the folder showing a shovel throwing a pile of dirt over Marco’s body.

More silence, then. “This is bullshit,” Jean finally breathed, his voice shaking. He swallowed thickly, seeming to stable himself a little. He reached forward, slamming Marco’s folder shut before grabbing ahold of my wrist, starting to drag me out of the room.

“Jean, wait, where are we going?”

“Those photos were taken in the junkyard and I know exactly where.”

“You can’t seriously be going to check-“

“Yes, Eren,” he snapped, spinning around on his heel to look at me. He stared down at me, desperation clear in his eyes. “I am seriously going to check to see if the only person who ever really gave a single fuck about me is lying dead in the ground.”

Deep breath. I had to stay calm for him. “I’m just saying that maybe it would be best if we got the police involved first.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” He scoffed, shaking his head as he moved away from me for a moment. “Eren, wake up! That damn family basically owns the police!”

I glanced away, trying my best to stay calm in the moment. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him shaking his head again, his fingers dragging through his hair before he spoke once more, this time sounding more collected. “I am going to that junkyard. Are you or are you not sticking with me?”

I looked back up at him, then, giving a slow nod in response. “Of course,” I assured, reaching out to hold onto his hand again. He pulled his arm back, before turning around and continuing his way out of the room.

“Let’s go, then.”

I didn’t allow myself to let his actions get to me. This was all about Jean, now, and I had to make sure that I was there for him. Whatever he needed, no matter what it was, I would give it to him.

We stayed completely silent during the drive there. Jean’s hands clutched tightly onto the steering wheel, staring intensely at the road ahead of him. I tried my best not to stare but I couldn’t really help it. I felt sick seeing him act like this, and even more sick knowing what was coming next.

Maybe those photos really were staged, though. Maybe the reason Marco disappeared was because he remembered being drugged and wanted to get out. Or maybe none of it was real at all and he was paid to model like that. Maybe he left like him and Jean had always dreamed of but didn’t end up telling him first.

Or maybe I was just being overly optimistic.

By the time we got to the junkyard, Jean was visibly shaking in his seat. He hopped out of the vehicle the moment it was parked, looking around the area frantically before running off in a direction. I had to sprint just to catch up with him.

By the time I got to him, he was already down on his knees, his hands shaking in front of him. “It’s here,” he said, his eyes wide as he looked up at me. Our eyes met for less than a second before he was staring at the ground again, not wasting a moment more before he started digging through the dirt with his bare hands. He glanced up again, then. “Help me,” he gasped out, his voice rough. “Fucking help me!”

Without a word, I fell down on my knees, my own hands shaking as I dragged them through the ground. Jean’s voice rang through my head over and over whilst we dug, the world feeling as though it was closing in on us.

My heart stopped when my hands hit something. When I looked down to check it out, I found dark green fabric staring back up at me. I immediately reached over to grab Jean’s hands, stopping them from digging any further. 

He leaned forward a little, gasping for air as his eyes welled up with tears. Slowly, I let go of his hands, watching the dreaded emotions twist into his expression.

“Marco,” he whispered, tears starting to stream down his face. I had to move to grab him from behind, then, because he started digging again. He fought against me at first, his hands dragging through the ground in desperation as he screamed in protest. I don’t know what he was trying to do - whether it was because he didn’t want to believe it was truly Marco or if he thought it would let him be close to him one last time. I don’t think even Jean knew why he was doing it.

I eventually managed to pull him away, the stench filling the air around us making his hands go weak. His whole body was shaking as I kept my arms wrapped securely around him. He stared down at the fabric in the ground before collapsing his body into me, his arms holding me even tighter than I held him.

He blurted out all of his thoughts as he sobbed against me. I didn’t even try to process what he was saying, his words just coming out as one massive blur. It was all I could do to just hold him close, hoping to bring at least the slightest bit of comfort as he broke down in front of me.


	15. One Shot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean and Eren try to hunt down the one who's been responsible for everything but that turns out to be more difficult than they'd expected.

I don’t even know how long I sat there, cradling Jean in my arms. It was almost dark by the time we left, though, so I guess it must have been awhile.

He headed back to his truck before me. We couldn’t just leave Marco’s shirt poking through the ground, but there was no way I was going to let Jean be the one to cover him up again. The smell was awful, as was doing the action itself, but it didn’t take long to do. I wanted to finish with it as soon as I could, partly because I didn’t want to keep Jean waiting but also because I couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone had been watching us.

I was probably just being paranoid.

When I finally returned to Jean in his truck, he was already acting differently. It had only been minutes since he was sitting numbly against me, yet as soon as I got in the passenger’s seat, he was switching on the ignition. He still looked a little out of it, except now there was a glint of determination in his eyes.

Questioning him about where we were going didn’t feel right, so, instead, I simply kept quiet as he drove. When we entered the school grounds, however, I knew I would have to eventually speak up.

“What are we doing here?”

No answer. He carelessly parked the vehicle outside before getting out of his seat.

“Jean?”

Still no answer. He’s walking faster now, his body looking tenser by the second.

“/Jean/.”

This time I grabbed onto his wrist, spinning him around to look back at me. For once, I was finding it truly difficult to figure out what he was thinking.

“/What/?”

“Why are we here?”

“Why do you think?” The words were muttered and laced with anger. Tugging his arm out of my grip, he started walking again, with me keeping up at his side. “I’m getting revenge for Marco.”

“Jean, maybe-“ I cut myself off, my brows furrowing slightly. There was music playing off in the distance and, when I looked over to the source, I found multicoloured lights flashing inside of the school sports hall.

Of course

“Tonight’s the night of the party.”

“It’s only nine-thirty. That shitbag should still be there,” Jean spat, his aggression increasing now as he marched in the direction of the flashing lights. There was nothing I could do except follow closely behind, my gaze drifting off along the way. Off by the fountain, a couple of students were up at the sky. It didn’t take a genius to figure why they seemed so intrigued. Looking up, you could see the moon shining bright, however, beside it, was another moon. The edges were blurry and seemed to flicker with the light but, in all simplicities, it looked like another moon.

Somehow, I doubted that Jean would even care about it.

I didn't think I did, either.

We were in the building before we knew it, shoving straight past drunken teens and straight to the pool entrance where the lights seemed to be coming from. The visual image was insane, like something straight out of a move. People filled up all spaces of the room, with some kids even messing around in the pool itself. Music flooded the room from the large speakers by the pool and coloured lights flashed along to the beat.

There was no doubting who this party was hosted by. Only the Bozado’s could have enough power to let their child get away with drinking on school premises. Hell, he wasn’t even supposed to be on school premises, anymore. Still, there was no way Oluo would miss his own party.

The only reason Jean stopped walking was so he could scan the area, his hands twitching eagerly at his sides. It was like he wasn’t going to be satisfied until he had them wrapped around Oluo’s throat.

We were both caught off guard when a white light flashed in our faces, though Jean seemed to be a lot less fazed by it than me. I looked off to the side, finding Sasha smiling back at me with a polaroid camera held in her hands. Her expression seemed genuine, the small smile still stuck to her lips as she waved the printed-off photo in her hand.

“Took inspiration from you to go for this instead of digital,” she said, her voice raised a little so she could be heard over the music. She looked down at the photo for a moment, the corners of her lips tugging up further. “You two look good together,” she grinned, handing the photo over for me to look. I only glanced down at it for a moment but by the time I looked up again she was gone. When I looked to the side, Jean was too.

“Fuck.”

I started searching for him right away, fumbling for my phone in my pocket in case I needed to contact him. It was unlikely that he’d answer, anyway, but I wanted to have the option available. For convenience purposes, I slipped the photo I had been given behind my phone case, similarly to how I had seen Jean do just a few days ago.

You’d think that there was no way that he could’ve gotten that far but it was difficult to find him in the crowd of people. Even his hair, which would usually stand out above anyone else, would blend in with the different colours flashing all over the room.

He wasn’t by the pool, or in the locker rooms, or in the water. The only other place in the area to check was at the far end of the pool, behind the DJ’s setup. There was a red curtain blocking off the section, like some kind of VIP area in a club. There was no doubt that they wouldn’t deem me ‘popular’ enough to head in but I didn’t exactly have a choice. If Jean was back there, then I needed to be too.

I waited until the guy guarding the door was busy talking to someone else, before running straight pass them. It wasn’t exactly a subtle move but it would at least give me enough time to check if Jean was back there.

There were shouts coming from behind me but they were mostly cancelled out by the music and, as I continued walking, further shouting from ahead of me. I turned the corner, quickly be filling with relief and then more worry.

The shouting was coming from Jean and those around him. He had Gunther pinned up against the wall by his shirt, his free hand formed into a threatening fist.

“I’ll ask again. Where is Oluo?” He said, spitting out each word with more vigor than the last.

Gunther struggled under his grip, trying desperately to push him off but ultimately failing. Either Jean was a hell of a lot stronger than I had thought or Gunther was just too drunk to properly defend himself.

“I don’t know! I swear haven’t seen him in ages.”

Jean stared him down for a moment, looking as though he was trying to decide if he was being honest. Or maybe he was just debating whether or not to punch him. With a short sigh of annoyance, he let him go, dropping both arms down to his sides and turning around. He paused when he saw me, staying still for a moment before heading off in the opposite direction.

I went to chase after him but hesitated slightly when I saw Petra out of the corner of my eye. Judging by the folders Jean and I had found, she was likely to be Oluo’s next victim. There was no doubt that I should tell her but would she even believe me if I did? Jean was getting farther away now, too…

I continued running, carefully slipping behind all of the DJ’s equipment to get to the next corner of the pool. Jean was more important than anyone else in that moment.

It didn't take long until I was by Jean’s side again, reaching a hand up to his shoulder to grab his attention. He shrugged me off of him and, for a moment, I thought he was going to try to run off again. Soon after, however, I felt his fingers link into my own, though his gaze stayed stuck ahead of himself.

“He’s not here,” he murmured, his voice barely even audible over the music. His tone was harsh yet he still just sounded so defeated.

“We’ll find him,” I assured, giving his hand a short squeeze before looking around. “He has to be around here somewhere. Maybe he went to his dorm to get his other phone.”

“Well if he did, then I doubt he’d still be there now,” he responded, before sighing. “I guess it’s worth a shot.”

“We’ll find him,” I repeated, my tone more gentle this time. I leaned up, hesitating slightly before placing a tender kiss on his cheek. “Let’s go.”

We didn’t get far before we were stopped again. We ran into Mr Ackerman on our way out of the main doors and, though the interaction was short, I made sure to keep ahold of Jean this time.

“You two not enjoying the party?”

“We’re just tired,” I said, tugging Jean a little closer to my side.

“I guess I won’t keep you any longer, then. I’m only here to announce the winner of the photography contest, anyway,” he said, his gaze lowering slightly, lingering on the key that dangled around my neck. He looked up again, then, offering an uncharacteristic smile before saying “I’ll see you later,” and heading inside.

“That guy creeps me out,” Jean murmured, tugging at my hand a little and walking in the direction of the boys’ dorm building.

“He’s good at what he does.”

Jean just shrugged, clearly not eager to talk about anything but the task at hand. We picked up pace, starting to jog over to the building. I slipped my phone out of my pocket when I felt it go off, my brows furrowing slightly when I saw who the text was from.

‘You shits haven’t got anything on me. Good luck finding your evidence again.’ - Oluo

“Wait, Jean, hold up,” I said, keeping hold of him as I stopped in my tracks. Before he could start complaining, I turned the screen to face him so he could read it for himself.

There was a pause after he had read it before he spoke. “Is he referring to Marco? Has he… Did he move him?”

“Maybe,” he mumbled, looking down at my phone once more before putting it back in my pocket. When I looked up again, Jean’s eyes had widened, his expression looking desperate.

“Well we have to go check,” he said quickly, making a move to run back to his truck but having to stop when I tugged him back.

“Jean, wait-“

“Wait for what? We can’t just stay here!”

“I just… I mean, don’t you think it’s a little weird that he would text us that? Why would he want us to know that he’s gotten rid of evidence?”

“Because he’s a fucking asshole! What does it matter, anyway? We have to go look,” he said, tugging his hand away from me. I had to give in, then, because I knew that Jean wouldn’t listen to me if I continued trying to convince him otherwise and I couldn’t let him go back there alone.

“Okay, okay. Let’s go.”

The drive back there was about as frantic as you could imagine. I swear that if it hadn’t been so late and the town hadn’t had such a sparse population that we wouldn’t have ever even made it there. Jean was reckless on a regular basis to begin with but with this added pressure, it was like he had thrown all caution to the wind.

His run over to the space where Marco was buried was just as desperate as it had been the first time. By the time I had gotten out of the vehicle and made my way over to him, he had already dug a fair way down. I stood beside him, using my phone's flashlight to see and watching as he sat back in relief.

“He’s still there,” he breathed, his legs bent back on either side of him as he stared down at the clothing.

It was definitely good that Marco was still there, of course, but it also made me feel even more paranoid than before. Oluo could be hiding out anyway and, if this was a trap, then there weren’t many possible endings where it would turn out in our favour.

“We should really get out of here,” I said, trying to sound as calm as possible.

Jean just shook his head, though. “We can’t leave him.”

I gave him a look of pity. “Jean…” Fuck, I hated seeing him like this. He looked so broken, so damaged… “Okay. We should at least check the area, though, just in case.”

“Yeah,” he murmured, the word barely audible. He shifted his position slightly, sitting so his legs were crossed. I didn’t know how he could stand to be so close to Marco, the smell was awful. “I think I’m gonna stay here, though.”

I nodded, just having to go along with it. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving Jean alone but it wasn’t like I was going to be far away. He probably wanted to be alone, anyway.

I walked around a little but it was so difficult to see things clearly, even with my flashlight. With time, I allowed myself to get a little further away from Jean, though I made sure to keep looking back at him every now and then.

I froze when I saw something move by the concrete shed, my heart hammering in my chest. Logic tried to convince me that it was probably just an animal and that we were still safe and needed to calm down. Then again, maybe that was just optimism talking.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly edged closer towards the building, my eyes constantly scanning the area. I stayed as quiet as possible as I peaked my head into the doorway, though my silence probably didn’t even make a difference since I was still using my flashlight. When I looked inside, there was nobody there and, for a moment, I felt relief flood through me.

That feeling didn’t last long, though. A short gasp slipped past my lips as I felt something sharp stick into my neck, my body feeling weak almost immediately after. My vision blurred and my legs collapsed beneath me, causing me to fall to the ground.

My eyes shot up, though in my current state it felt like everything was in slow motion. My phone had flipped over onto the ground, the flashlight now pointing upwards. It gave me the chance to see who was there, the person standing ahead of me facing Jean’s direction. He glanced back at me and-

Mr Ackerman…

I tried lifting my hand up to rewind but I was too weak to use my power. I tried to call out to Jean but the words refused to come out. There was nothing I could do but sit there and try to stay conscious, the world spinning around me as I watched my so-called teacher walk away. I tried to call out again to warn Jean but before I had the chance, my vision faded to black. It took everything in me to stay conscious enough to hear the next few seconds.

There was a gunshot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I should start a count for how many times I use the word "though" in this fic is2g.


	16. The end

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People do bad things. Sometimes it's difficult to separate someone's actions from how you view them.

The first thing I felt when I woke up was the crick in my neck, followed by a soft aching at the back of my head. I had yet to open my eyes but I knew I was bound to something, the feeling of tape wrapped around my wrists and ankles adding to my uncomfortableness. I was sitting down on a chair of sorts but I didn't know where. I wasn't ready to find out, either.

The room was cold, more so than usual. The thought of my body being bare grabbed my attention and I finally snapped my eyes open, looking down and being greeted to the same clothes I had been wearing before. Marco's clothes...

Shit. Marco.

Jean...

The last thing I could remember was the gunshot in the junkyard. It was possible that Jean had one of Nile's guns with him but I knew that I was just being overly optimistic.He had been so closed off and vulnerable whilst we were there, it would have been easy for someone to go against him - for Mr Ackerman to go against him.

For Ackerman to kill him.

I shook the thought out of my mind - at least, for the moment. I had to focus on the present until I figured out what the hell was going on.

I looked up again, my gaze first drifting off to my limbs, confirming my suspicions about the ducktape. It wasn't likely that I'd be able to get myself out of this.

Next, I looked at my surroundings, a shaky breath slipping past my lips when I realised where I was. It was the room under the farmhouse that I had been too. The lights around the white backdrop were setup and shining bright, with my placed in the center. There was a camera held up on the tripod in front of me, too. The thought of Ackerman taking photos of me mad me feel sick to my stomach.

Did that mean he had already taken them of me, then? I had no memory of it but I wasn't supposed to, anyway. It wasn't like he could just let me go like he probably usually would, either. I knew too much too long before he had drugged me.

"Ah. I see you're awake."

I froze when I heard his voice, my gaze immediately shifting over to the source. Fear ran through me, completely replacing any previous thoughts. This must have been obvious to the other, as soon his lips were turning up into a faint smirk.

He made his way over to me from the entryway before speaking up again, standing only a few feet ahead of me.

"What's wrong? Not a morning person?"

"Go to hell."

"Ouch. You sure told me," he said flatly, looking me over. "Though, I'd rather not go there right now. It would be a little awkward with your boyfriend there and all."

"Go fuck yourself," I growled, my voice trembling as I spoke. I wouldn't let myself cry. I couldn't. There was no way I was giving him the satisfaction. "Jean was an amazing person. You'll be the only one down there, and then all of your victims will finally be at rest."

"All of my /models/ are already at rest. What they don't know can't hurt them. That punk fuck was just somebody in my way."

"You're a murderer! You killed Marco and then you-"

He laughed. "Marco? God, no. No, I didn't kill him."

My brows furrowed. "Then who-?"

"That one was Oluo's doing," he said, as though it was the most casual sentence there was. "He always looked up to me. Kind of creepy if you ask me but, hey, there we go. I thought it would be good to teach him how I work but he went ahead on his own for his first time and fucked up the dose. Marco Bodt was dead before he had even realised what he'd done."

I shook my head. ”You used him. Oluo may be an asshole but he's not mentally well, either. You took advantage of him."

Ackerman shrugged. "You can see it however you want. It's not like it matters anymore, anyway. He's down with your boyfriend now."

My eyes widened at that. All this time I had been fighting against the wrong person. Oluo hadn't deserved this - he was just as much a victim as the rest of us.

"Don't worry, Eren. You'll be down there too, soon." I tried not to let my fear show at that but it was so difficult to hold it back, even though I had seen it coming. "It really is a shame that you had to go around shoving your nose in everywhere. You looked so perfect in those photos."

He turned around, then, walking over to the desk at the other side of the room. I shifted in my seat, my eyes widening when I saw him pull out a needle from one of the cupboards.

"W-wait! You don't have to do this!" The desperate tone in my voice made me sick to my stomach but what else was there for me to do? My body was tied down to this chair and...

And my arm was positioned how it needed to be when I turned back time. Could that work still?

Fuck. What did it matter, anyway? I could only go back to a few moments ago, so I'd just be putting off the inevitable. Ackerman wasn't going to change his mind about me and I had no chance of getting out of this chair. 

He turned back around, making his way over to me once more. He looked completely calm and collected, even with the needle held up in his right hand. I just stared up at him, my teeth bared and my brows strung together. I would not beg, I would not cry. Giving up wasn't in my usual nature but if the only other option was to plead to fight then in my mind I had no other choice than to at least go out with some dignity.

"Don't worry. This won't hurt one bit."

I tried to think of the positives. I wasn't really religious but maybe I would have some chance to see Jean again.

Ackerman came over to the side of me, tilting my head a little so my neck was more exposed.

I wondered what Jean would say when I saw him. It would be so great to see him again.

"Try not to tense so much. It'll be easier that way."

Would he finally be happy again? He could finally be with Marco - and me, too. He deserved to be happy again.

Ackerman's hand was on the back of my neck, now, holding it in place. The needle was hovering less than an inch away from my skin. 

I closed my eyes. 

The room went silent.

My killer's fingers ran over my skin. He was finding the perfect place to place the needle.

I held my breath.

Waiting.

Waiting…

…

There was a bang.

My eyes shot open, immediately searching the room. The hands that were previously on me fell away, as did the body holding them up. Ackerman was collapsed on the floor, his arms clutched around his abdomen as he seemed to drift in and out of consciousness. Blood spilled out onto his shirt, slowly covering the lower half of his torso. I stared wide-eyed down at him, my breath hitching in my throat as I took it in. It wasn't too long before I was pulled out of my thoughts, the shooter now standing in front of me. I looked up, a breath of relief leaving me.

I don't think I'd ever been happier to see Nile. 

"Are you okay?"

I nodded weakly, watching as he pulled a pocket knife out and carefully cut away the tape keeping me hostage. Once I was free, he turned his attention to the unconscious body on the floor, saying something about how he got here. I didn't really listen to what he was saying, finding myself in a post-event daze. It was only when he mentioned Jean's name that I found myself back in reality.

My hands shot down to my jeans, desperately searching for my phone. I needed to go back and warn Jean. I needed to see him again. And all I needed was a photo.

Nile continued talking as I started searching the room in a panic. His words didn't quite register but I could tell that his tone seemed worried. I continued to ignore him, seeing no point in acknowledging his presence when I was only going to go back in time anyway.

My searching became more and more frantic as time went on without me having my phone in my hands. What if Ackerman had disposed of it completely? It was possible someone could have tracked us through it if he hadn't. God, I hope he hadn't.

The moment I found the device was probably one of my most thankful times that I had experienced. I knew that, theoretically, I could have used any photo after getting them, but I felt like I was going to go crazy if I didn't see Jean right that second.

I ripped the case off of my phone, a shaky breath slipping past my lips as I gripped the photo that I had slipped in at the party in my hands. I closed my eyes for a moment, praying to whatever God that would listen that my power would still work, before focusing all of my attention on the image.

The sound of the music buzzed lowly in my ears, encouraging me to continue going. All I could think of was Jean. If I could hear his voice again, or touch his body again, that would be enough.

Please...

A flash of white. 

I felt my breath catch in my throat when I realised it was the flash of a camera. I immediately looked over to my left, relief flooding through me when I saw Jean standing there. Before even giving it another thought, I threw my arms around him, burying my face in his shoulder as I held him for the few short moments that he let me before pushing me away.

"Eren, for fucks sake, get off of me," he growled, his hands still clenched at his sides. His expression changed a little when he looked down at me, his brows knitting together in concern. "Your nose is bleeding again."

Wiping my hand under my nose, I wasn't exactly surprised when I found blood smudged across the skin. I wasn't worried about it, either.

"We need to go," I said, reaching over to grab Jean's hand. Any concern that he had shown for me dissipated then, his main focusing returning.

"I'm not leaving until I've found Oluo."

"He's not even here! For all we know he's probably already dead and buried."

That got his attention. "The hell are you talking about?" He asked, his gaze flicking over the bloodied skin under my nose before returning to meet my eyes. "Did you use your powers again?"

"I'll tell you everything but can we just get out of here first?" I tugged at his hand. "This music is doing my fucking head in."

There was clear hesitation at first, his eyes wandering off to scout the room. Eventually, he gave in, huffing out a sigh as he made his way out of the school building. As soon as we were out, he spun me around to face him, his expression a mix of concern and curiosity. "Well?"

I tugged my hand away from him, anxiously fiddling my fingers as I explained everything to him. He still wanted Oluo to be brought to justice but he was holding himself back from doing anything himself. "So, what do we do now?"

"We have to tell Nile. This whole situation is too great for us to take on our own."

Jean nodded stiffly. "Okay," he said, staying still a moment before shifting closer towards me. He wrapped his arms firmly around me, pulling me in for a hug. "Thank you for coming back for me."

My body shook as I slipped my arms around his waist, my eyes falling shut as I returned the gesture. Never in my life had I felt more content in someone else's arms.

"No problem."

\---------

My eyes shot open, my ears ringing as the world seemed to spin around me. My last memory was standing outside of the school building with Jean, any details after that blank in my mind. It was like I hadn't even lived through them at all, like when I went back to save Hannes that first time...

My heart dropped when I looked at the world around me. I was standing near the lighthouse again, staring off at the same scene that I had envisioned many times before. For a moment I panicked, worrying that I was stuck in yet another dream-state, but I calmed down when I looked around and found Jean standing less than a few meters behind me. I ran over to him straight away, almost slipping on the wet ground on my way. He tensed up slightly when I hooked my arms around him, before letting out a long breath of relief and doing the same.

"You're back."

I pulled away slightly, raising my brows as I looked up at him. "What do you mean? What happened?"

"When we left to go sort everything out with Nile, you just seemed to go on some weird autopilot mode. It was like it was you but you just weren't really... there."

Just like the last time I'd used a photo, then. "I don't remember anything," I said quietly, not even sure if he could hear me over the rain. "Wait, so, did it all turn out okay?"

"Well, Nile managed to catch Ackerman, if that's what you mean," he said, glancing over at the tornado off in the distance. "When the storm started, you insisted on coming here. Said it'd be safer."

I moved my arms off of him, turning to face the tornado that was heading towards the town from the ocean. I slipped my hand into Jean's. "I can't believe that after everything, I still never found the time to warn everyone about this."

"They wouldn't have listened. You'd sound crazy," he mumbled, staying quiet for a few moments before lowering his gaze slightly. "Eren, you know why this is all happening, don't you? The storm?"

I looked down, as well. I knew what he was edging on to, but I didn't want to hear it. I shook my head, ignoring the ache in my chest as I looked at him before half-jokingly saying, "climate change?" He swallowed thickly, pressing his lips tightly together as he stared away from me. I couldn't stand watching him dwell on this. "Listen, it doesn't matter why the storm is happening. We should just be glad that we're safe, shouldn't we?"

"The people in the town aren't safe."

"There's nothing we can do about that now, Jean."

He shook his head. "We can't just ignore this, Eren," he said, turning to face me. "You /changed/ time and, as amazing as that is, it goes against all the laws of the universe we know. You change one thing and it starts a snowball effect - no, a /butterfly/ effect - until everything else gets fucked."

"You think I don't know that?" I pulled away from him, feeling the urge to move around. My voice was trembling. "I don't /care/ that I fucked everything up. I'd do anything to save you!"

"You're not God, Eren. You can't choose who lives and dies."

"Well, then, /what/, Jean? What do you want me to do about it?"

He opened his mouth to respond but faltered, gritting his teeth as he looked away in thought. Not too long later, he was pulling his phone out of his pocket, snapping off his case. He didn't even get the chance to speak or finish retrieving the photo that I knew lied in there before I was refusing. "No. Not a fucking chance."

He took a step forward. "We can't just let all of those people die, Eren-"

"We can if it's to save you!"

He gave me a look then, something mixed with dread and pity. I couldn't believe that after everything we had been through together, he was asking me to go back and erase it all. He wanted me to just rewind and let him /die/.

He took another step forward, holding onto me with his free hand. "Eren, please, I am begging you here. I know that I've not been the best person for most of my life. I've always been selfish and these past few years I've done nothing but push away those closest to me." He paused, looking down at our interlaced fingers. "I need you to do this for me. I want to be able to have done at least one good thing in my life."

The tears that had been threatening to leave me started spilling out now, refusing to stay back any longer. I gave his hand a squeeze, looking up at him wide-eyed. "I can't do that," I whispered, the slight aggression vanished from my tone. "Y- you don't understand. I can't leave you. I- I-" /I love you/. Fuck, I couldn’t bring myself to say it, too scared that it would make everything so much more difficult to cope with, the words getting stuck in my mouth. It didn’t matter if it had been less than a week since I came back to him, I had known Jean way before any of this shit even happened. I couldn't stand the thought of spending my life without him.

"I understand," he whispered, leaning down and kissing me deeply. I returned the action without hesitation, pushing back with as much force as he gave, desperate to stay in that moment. When he moved his other hand to hold onto mine, I grabbed his fingers, managing to ignore reality for a short moment before I realised he was only passing on the photo to me. I broke down into the kiss, having to pull back as I began to sob. The photo remained in my hand, though, clutched tightly under my fingers.

Before I knew it, I was kneeling down on the floor, my legs shaking too much to be able to support me any longer. Jean crouched down beside me, placing gentle kisses to my head as I stared down at the dirt in front of me. I'd never know how he could seem so calm for me.

"It will be okay," he assured gently, placing another kiss to my cheek. "You can do it."

I continued to look downwards, away from him. The thought of just ripping up the photo and ignoring Jean's request ran through my mind, but the fear of him hating me for doing that was even worse than the fear of losing him. Slowly, I lifted the photo of the blue butterfly so I was looking down at it, my stomach churning as I did so. I tried to focus on the image, reminding myself that I was doing it for Jean, but my tears kept blocking my vision and my fear blocked my attention. After awhile, Jean moved to sit down beside me, his arm wrapping around my waist and his head resting on my shoulder. It made my heart ache, but it calmed me down enough for me to focus on the photo.

It wasn't long, then, before everything went white, the sight of the butterfly behind the dumpster appearing soon after. I dropped my camera to the ground, my hands coming up to clutch over my mouth. My breathing deepened and my knees shook, leaving me with nothing to do but sit with my legs curled up to my chest behind the dumpster, out of sight.

I don't think I'll ever be able to forget the events that followed - the sound of panic in Jean's voice when Oluo pulled out his gun, the bang that rang through my ears and the sound of a body falling to the floor. I'll never forget how Oluo seemed to panic and cry and regret almost as much as I did, or how it felt to crawl out and see the person that mattered most to me lying still on the floor.

I'll never forget the day of his funeral, and how people looked at me and wondered why his death had affected me so much. I'll never forget that to the rest of the world, he was just my childhood friend that I hadn't even bothered to visit, and how he died thinking the exact same thing.

I'll never be able to rid of the constant empty feeling in the pit of my stomach, or the blame that I placed on myself. I'll never be able to forgive myself for listening to his request.

But it was okay, because it all meant that, whatever happened, at least I wouldn't forget him. I would /never/ forget Jean Kirstein.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. That's it.
> 
> I'm really sorry if this seemed rushed or, well, bad. Also sorry for the long wait I had between chapters
> 
> Thank you all so much for your support for this fic. I appreciate every single one of your comments and kudos.
> 
> I will have another fic out eventually. I've got one in the works with 5 chapters done but I don't think I'll be posting it until I've finished the whole thing. 
> 
> Anyway, thank you again!!


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